If true, then can it be said to be true?

The gospel according to Joan Konner:

“The reason there are so many opinions is that no one knows the Truth.”

Is this one of those “truths” that you have to have an opinion on?

By this I must point out that this is somewhat of a self-refuting or self-defeating statement. Since no one knows the truth, then how can a true statement be made on anything. Either this statement is true which means that we really can’t know if it is indeed true, or this statement is false which means that its irrelevant.

If true, then it refutes and defeats itself.

If not true, then it doesn’t matter.

If no one knows the truth, then by what reason or reasons can a statement of this nature be made? Do you follow? Is this not a reasonable and rational response to the claim being made? How can a thought that claims that truth can not be known be considered a truth?

This statement is quite dogmatic in its expression of relativism.

Interestingly enough, the very fact that there are so many opinions would prove this statement inaccurate. Please allow me to explain. People have opinions and share such opinions on account of thinking them to be true. They consider their opinion to be a valid and better reflection of whatever they happen to be thinking about. They believe their opinion to be more accurate than another opinion that stands in opposition.

This quote is thought to be true by the one who pressed the letters that communicated the opinion regarding Truth. 

It is thought to be true.

It isn’t.

With all that said, I must say that this thought does reveal at least the following notions:

If Truth were accessible, then it would be challenging to understand and even more so to communicate. If Reason were able to distinguish between truth and fiction, logic and illogic, accurate and inaccurate reflections of reality, then it would also be a challenge. But a challenge well worth the effort as some sense of reality comes into view.

If these ideas are not true, then what isn’t self-refuting and self-defeating?

There are simpletons on both sides of the proverbial fence.

The gospel according to John Stuart MIll:

“The world would be astonished if it knew how great a proportion of its brightest ornaments–of those most distinguished even in popular estimation for wisdom and virtue–are complete skeptics in religion.”

Should I be in the least bit astonished by how such a claim could even be verified? Really. How does one go about proving such a statement? 

Certainly it becomes a matter of how words are being unpacked.

Would I be “astonished” in finding out this number of God-deniers to be not so great as implied by this quote (would the quote be any less true if such was the case)? What of the categories of “brightest” or “distinguished” described in such a way that excludes many or most that are God-believers of some sort? What cultures of the world are included in this “popular estimation” that is being made? Who are these “complete skeptics” that he mentions (atheists, agnostics, or perhaps even people who distrust the church for any number of reasons)? 

One thing can be known for certain and I believe it to be a reasonable inference. Mr. Mills is wise enough not to exclude from the group of “brightest ornaments” those who do have faith and do believe in God.

This reveals a measure of reality that many atheists are quick to deny.

Embracing faith as a way of solving the riddle of life doesn’t equate to the abandonment of the mind or its ability to reason. Just as the embrace of Atheism as a way of assuming our reality to be a closed-system doesn’t equate to being any more or less rational.

The quality of intellect crosses over both sides of the fence.

Some atheists and theists make a “leap of faith.” Some atheists and theists take a smaller step into the riddle of life. There are simple-minded atheists as there are theists with the same caliber of faculties. In both of these groups, there are those who know how the car works and others who are content just knowing that it works and they can drive to the local grocery to get dinner.

There are atheists and theists in this group described as “the brightest ornaments.”