Divine love and nonbelief › Does nonresistant nonbelief occur?

Schellenberg's affirmative case includes people whose sincere investigation undermines a belief they would prefer to preserve. Wanting to continue believing can be evidence against the suggestion that they are escaping an unwanted relationship. He also appeals to people with no prior access to theistic belief. His claim is not that everyone who calls themselves open must be correctly describing their motives. It is that nonbelief is not always caused by resistance to God. “What Divine Hiddenness Reveals,” section I.

A critic can question these cases. Self-interpretation can be mistaken, and whether someone has the relevant capacities may be unclear. But the positions in this dispute should be stated precisely. Defeating the argument does not require proving that nonresistant nonbelievers are impossible. A critic could instead provide reasons to withhold assent from the claim that any actual instance has been established. Conversely, uncertainty about one person does not establish that every nonbeliever resists God.

The existential premise is enough for the deductive structure if even one actual person at one relevant time satisfies it. That feature explains why counting believers and nonbelievers would not settle the issue. A survey could record reported beliefs; the argument additionally concerns capacities and the causes of nonbelief. Neither the popularity of religion nor the popularity of doubt decides those questions by itself.