Divine Hiddenness and Human Consciousness

Abstract

The paper offers a new strategy for refuting the atheistic hiddenness argument. For that, the argument is modified on the account of the actual epistemic situation in our world. As a result, the success of the modified argument hinges on the truth of the supposition that divine-human loving relationship depends on whether the human had a convincing religious experience of the divine presence and whether the human possesses the capability to recognize this experience as their participation in the relationship with God. This supposition, however, is shown to be unfounded. Moreover, this supposition entails that many people who lack the necessary cognitive abilities to be conscious of their relationship with God are thus unfit for this relationship, which disagrees with the idea of all-encompassing divine love. A successful rebuttal of this supposition results in a refutation of the hiddenness argument.