Explain the Inherent Problems with Religious Language

Explain the inherent problems with religious language. (30)

Religious language is commonly defined as language used to talk about God, and is described by the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy as “the theory of truth and meaning behind linguistic entities”.  Religious language is often discussed through different concepts in order for humans to have a better understanding of who and what God is.  However, there are many problems with religious language, some of which are outlined below.

One of the main problems with religious language is that it can be illogical which makes it difficult to communicate ideas.  Religious language can contradict our everyday language, for instance the phrase ‘virgin birth’, which defies all human logic and we would state, on scientific grounds, as physically impossible.  However, if God is omnipotent then He would be able to create a human who will listen to his words and teachings.  In a similar manner, the idea that religious language is also abstract or metaphysical can also lead to confusion as the subject of religious language isn’t physical and there is no empirical evidence for the subjects actually existing.  The extent of comprehension to which a person can understand religious language is subject to their own experiences.  Peter Vardy, a contemporary philosopher, supports this in his book ‘The Thinkers Guide to God’ in which he states that “Human language is limited by the human experience of being in space and time which means that talk of God is the equivalent of a goldfish talking about the world of dry land”.   He is suggesting that because we haven’t experienced something means that we are unequipped to talk about it.  Furthermore, metaphysical language, such as ‘spirit’, can cause further problems as they are abstract concepts with no physical evidence, and so the language we use to describe such words can often undermine the subject of the religious language.  This undermining can also occur due to the problem that humans have a limited language, which is inadequate to describe God.  As human language is limited it can often lead to the anthropomorphism of God.  

Another problem of religious language is univocal and equivocal language which can lead to misinterpretation.  Univocal language is an inherent problem as one word can have many different understandings/depths.  For instance, the word ‘love’ is an abstract noun that can be applied to a variety of subjects, and as such has wide range in meaning and importance, which to some people could lead to confusion as univocal words can lead to undermining God.  Equivocal language, much like univocal language, can lead to confusion but this time because the same word can have different meaning in different contexts.  For instance, karma has different meanings within Hinduism and Buddhism.  Within Hinduism, Karma is used to explain a system of causality in which beneficial effects are derived from beneficial actions and harmful effects from harmful action, whilst in Buddhism, the term Karma is used to mean action, and the faith concentrates on actions with an intent, with the intent of the action being the determining factor in their cycle of rebirth.  This can lead to misinterpretation which is a further problem in its own in right.  As religions are made up of stories that can be taken both literally or metaphorically.  An example of this would be Genesis 3, the story of The Fall, which different religions and denominations interpret differently; which creates conflicting views meaning that for some, it is less likely for them to believe in the religions or the story.