religious language 

Religious language makes assertions about God’s nature and God is said to have numerous qualities e.g. infinite and timeless. ∘ Descriptions of God as infinite or timeless are outside of shared human experience so it is impossible to support these claims with empirical evidence. ∘ Infinity or timelessness are abstract qualities, they are impossible for human beings to conceive of reliably because humans are finite and within time. • Sacred texts and religious doctrine and teaching requires the use of language that relates to metaphysical ideas and concepts. ∘ Such claims are unintelligible because they are not based upon a shared experience of the world and their meaning is unclear. ∘ Religious language often makes contradictory or paradoxical claims e.g. God is described as omnipotent and omnibenevolent and yet allows evil to exist. ∘ Other paradoxical claims include death being considered the end of life, yet religious teachings and scriptures speak of life after death. ∘ If these claims are not literal, there is difficulty in understanding what the intended meaning is. There are difficulties even amongst believers about how this language is to be understood. • Everyone can experience the empirical world, so to talk of it is meaningful to everyone. • Religious language attempts to communicate information about things that are not universally experienced by all people. ∘ This makes it difficult for religious people to communicate meaningfully with those who do not share that experience. ∘ E.g. God’s grace is not a universal experience. Explaining it to a non-religious person, requires more religious language (atonement, salvation, forgiveness, holiness) none of which can be known outside of a religious context. ∘ Religious language is often specific to the individual religion or faith perspective or is used differently between faiths. • Cognitive language is language for which the meaning can be known with certainty. • Cognitive language makes factual claims about the empirical world (what we can apprehend with our senses). • It expresses propositions that can be known to be objectively true or false and can be tested with empirical evidence. • E.g. clouds consist of water droplets; the cat is sitting on the mat. • If religious language is cognitive then it should be possible to prove its truth or falsity, but it is impossible to test assertions of religious language. • Non-cognitive language is subjective language for which the meaning may be interpreted. • Non-cognitive language expresses attitudes or interpretations. • Non-cognitive language communicates information not restricted to empirical facts. This could include ethical, emotional, and religious language. • E.g. I feel happy, God loves me, murder is wrong. • If religious language is non-cognitive, it is difficult to understand what is being expressed. It also means that it cannot make cognitive claims. e.g. ‘God exists’ or ‘God is good’ is not a claim that can be described as true or false