Editing Argument from nonbelief (section)

=== God is perfectly loving ===
Schellenberg says he has not seen any serious objections to this premise by theistic philosophers, but there certainly are other [[conceptions of God]]. Daniel Howard-Snyder writes about the possibility of believing in an unsurpassably great [[personal god]] that is nevertheless dispassionate towards its creatures. Drawing on the [[Stoicism|Stoic]] concept of [[Eudaimonia]], he says one can think of a god more akin to a wise sage than the loving parent that Schellenberg envisions.<ref name="hs2006">{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Howard-Snyder |first=Daniel |year=2006 |title=Hiddenness of God |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Philosophy |edition=2nd |editor=Donald M. Borchert |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofph0000unse |access-date=2007-01-15 |isbn=0-02-865780-2 }}</ref>

Theodore Drange, in his attempt to improve the argument ([[#Drange's argument from nonbelief|see below]]), states that there are many theists who do not view God as perfectly loving, and "some Christians think of him as an angry deity bent on punishing people for their sins."<ref>{{Cite conference |last=Drange |first=Theodore |author-link=Theodore Drange |year=1998 |title=Nonbelief as Support for Atheism |book-title=Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy |url=http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Reli/ReliDran.htm |access-date=2007-01-13| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070204050102/http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Reli/ReliDran.htm |archive-date= 4 February 2007  |url-status= live}}</ref> Drange concludes that the argument should be put forward only in relation to theists who already accept the first premise and believe in a god who is perfectly loving.

Most theists, in fact, do admit that [[love (religious views)|love]] is a central concept in almost all of the world's religions. God is often directly associated with love, especially with [[agape]]. Theologians such as [[Tom Wright (theologian)|N.T. Wright]] suggest that our experience of love is itself a [[argument from love|proof of God's existence]].  However, there are a few others (e.g. Brian Davies in the Thomist tradition) who suggest that the modern interpretation of what it means to say God loves human beings is incorrect, and so that God is able to be loving in a sense while actually willing disbelief.