John Wisdom: The Falsity Of Religious Beliefs

Wisdom claims that religions are revealing of the present world, even if they are often referring to what lies beyond this life and our senses. Regardless of the differences a believer and a none believer have, or do not have, towards an afterlife or a life beyond the one they live now, the differences between the beliefs an atheist holds and those that a theist holds are not confined to how they live their lives or face death, for there are also differences in how they view life presently. The truth or falsity of what atheists and theists believe about life has been debated time and time again. John Wisdom is of the belief that religious beliefs are susceptible to factors that rely on how things are in the world, and how one views and interprets these things. This includes a belief in God.
It should be acknowledged, however, that there is, of course, some persistence of this element, which can be demonstrated by the phenomenon of people praying; it is often the case that people pray for others and actually get a sense of helping from this. Wisdom chalks this up to there still being mystery surrounding how humans work. For example, one can never know what another human will do next so expecting a prayer to make a difference [to a person] is not so definite a thing as believing in its mechanical efficiency (185). Despite theists and atheists having difference views as to the facts of the world, this difference is not the kind that can be settled by an