He also wrote numerous essays discussing various aspects of religion, such as the anti-doctrinal essays “Of the Immortality of the Soul” and “Of Suicide,” and critiques of organized religion and the clergy in “Of Superstition and Enthusiasm” and “Of National Characters.” Hume also wrote two major works entirely dedicated to religion: The Natural History of Religion ( Natural History) and the Dialogues concerning Natural Religion ( Dialogues), which merit brief discussions of their own. Hume’s major non-philosophical work, The History of England, discusses specific religious sects, largely in terms of their (often bloody) consequences. Hume’s Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding re-emphasizes several of the challenges from the Treatise, but also includes a section against miracles and a section against the fruitfulness of theology. Hume’s very first work, A Treatise of Human Nature, includes considerations against an immortal soul, develops a system of morality independent of a deity, attempts to refute occasionalism, and argues against a necessary being, to name but a few of the religious topics that it addresses. These run the gamut from highly specific topics, such as metaphysical absurdities entailed by the Real Presence of the Eucharist, to broad critiques like the impossibility of using theology to infer anything about the world. He leveled moral, skeptical, and pragmatic objections against both popular religion and the religion of the philosophers. Hume addressed most of the major issues within the philosophy of religion, and even today theists feel compelled to confront Hume’s challenges. In fact, Hume’s views on religion were so controversial that he never held a university position in philosophy. His very first work had the charge of atheism leveled against it, and this led to his being passed over for the Chair of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. Hume is one of the most important philosophers to have written in the English language, and many of his writings address religious subjects either directly or indirectly.
He also defends what is now called “the Problem of Evil,” namely, that the concept of an all powerful, all knowing, and all good God is inconsistent with the existence of suffering. Nor can we use such depictions to inform other aspects of the world, such as whether there is a dessert-based afterlife. Hume develops what are now standard objections to the analogical design argument by insisting that the analogy is drawn only from limited experience, making it impossible to conclude that a cosmic designer is infinite, morally just, or a single being. Further, he argues, rational arguments cannot lead us to a deity. As such, Hume rejects the truth of any revealed religion, and further shows that, when corrupted with inappropriate passions, religion has harmful consequences to both morality and society. If correct, this claim would undermine the veracity of any sacred text, such as the Bible, which testifies to miracles and relies on them as its guarantor of truth. He gives a sweeping argument that we are never justified in believing testimony that a miracle has occurred, because the evidence for uniform laws of nature will always be stronger.
Though Hume’s final view on religion is not clear, what is certain is that he was not a theist in any traditional sense. However, through Hume’s various philosophical writings, he works to critique each of these avenues of religious justification. Religious belief is often defended through revealed theology, natural theology, or pragmatic advantage. When taken together, however, they provide his attempt at a systematic undermining of the justifications for religion. Taken individually, Hume gives novel insights into many aspects of revealed and natural theology. David Hume (1711-1776) was called “Saint David” and “The Good David” by his friends, but his adversaries knew him as “The Great Infidel.” His contributions to religion have had a lasting impact and contemporary significance.