Editing Argument from nonbelief (section)

==Drange's argument from nonbelief==
Theodore Drange proposed a version of the nonbelief argument in 1996. He considers the distinction between culpable and inculpable nonbelief to be unhelpful in the argument, arguing instead that the mere existence of nonbelief is evidence against the existence of God. A semi-formal presentation of the argument is as follows:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Drange |first=Theodore |author-link=Theodore Drange |year=1996 |title=The Arguments From Evil and Nonbelief |url=http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/aeanb.html |access-date=2007-01-13| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070110135633/http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/aeanb.html |archive-date= 10 January 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref>
#If God exists, God:
## wants all humans to believe God exists before they die;
## can bring about a situation in which all humans believe God exists before they die;
## does not want anything that would conflict with and be at least as important as its desire for all humans to believe God exists before they die; and
## always acts in accordance with what it most wants.
# If God exists, all humans would believe so before they die (from 1).
# But not all humans believe God exists before they die.
# Therefore, God does not exist (from 2 and 3).

Drange's argument is directed primarily to Christians, and the philosopher Laura Garcia has replied from that perspective. She says that Drange's argument hinges on the idea that belief in God's existence is, according to Christians, necessary for salvation. According to Garcia this idea is mistaken: "many Christians deny this claim and the Catholic Church explicitly rejects it."<ref>{{cite book |last=Garcia |first=Laura |editor1-first=Daniel |editor1-last=Howard-Snyder |editor2-first=Paul |editor2-last=Moser |title=Divine Hiddenness: New Essays |url=https://archive.org/details/divinehiddenness00howa |url-access=limited |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |page=[https://archive.org/details/divinehiddenness00howa/page/n95 84] |chapter=St. John of the Cross and the Necessity of Divine Hiddenness |isbn=0-521-00610-4}}</ref> But as Garcia notes, Drange has answered that for many Christians—in particular, evangelical Christians—his point should remain convincing, and that there are in any case other good things that belief in God can bring for humans, which a good God would desire, such as peace of mind and a sense of meaning in life.<ref>{{cite book |last=Garcia |first=Laura |editor1-first=Daniel |editor1-last=Howard-Snyder |editor2-first=Paul |editor2-last=Moser |title=Divine Hiddenness: New Essays |url=https://archive.org/details/divinehiddenness00howa |url-access=limited |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |page=[https://archive.org/details/divinehiddenness00howa/page/n96 85] |chapter=St. John of the Cross and the Necessity of Divine Hiddenness |isbn=0-521-00610-4}}</ref>