Atheism Flashcards
What was 1⃣/4⃣ of Richard Dawkins ideas?
1⃣God is unnecessary……
Thanks to Darwin the existence of God is unnecessary. It is a great enough coincidence that biology and humans exist at all, without looking for greater significance. Our soul purpose is for us to pass on DNA to survive. We do not need a supernatural purpose or God to help our survival.
What was 2⃣/4⃣ of Richard Dawkins ideas?
2⃣ faith claims…..
Faith claims provide no evidence and are essentially a “great cop-out”
Faith is an excuse no to think and evaluate the evidence.
Super natural explanations do not require us to investigate any further and so we “live in a pokey little medieval universe”.
What was 3⃣/4⃣ of Richard Dawkins proposals?
3⃣issue of purpose….
We find purpose and meaning within the world as we are driven by purpose in ourselves and in everything we do. Humans are naturally purpose driven. To assume this purpose come from outside the world is an unwarranted assumption which closes the door on further investigation.
What was 4⃣/4⃣ of Richard Dawkins proposals towards atheism?
4⃣ virus of religion…..
Religion leads to evil, it is malignant virus that infect the human mind.
‘an indulgence of irrationality that is nourishing extremism, decision and terror.’
What did Karl Marxs believe?
The God is an invention of the human mind in order to satisfy I man needs.
He said “the first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion”.
Only by loving one another rather than loving God will we be able to reclaim humanity.
3⃣IDEAS…..
- A social institution
- Religion cheats human beings
- Religion disguises the true wrongs
Describe Marx’s ideas involving the social institution?
Marxs believed that religion was a social institution, and reflected and sustained a particular role in society at which it flourished.
- he went further to say that religion was a tool used by the capitalists to keep the working class under control.
- he said religion provided the working class with some comfort to there miserable and oppressed lives. He believed that religion was allowed the working class to focus their attention on the joys of the life after death in stead of them realising that they could make their life’s better.
What was Karl Marxs ideas regarding his ideas that religion is cheating human beings ?
Karl believed that religion took the noblest human ideals and gave them to a non existent God, thus cheating human beings out of realising their own greatness and potential.
What was the ideas behind Marxs ideas of religion disgusting the true wrongs?
Marxs argued that the illusory happiness provided by religion should be eliminated by putting right to the economic conditions that caused people to need the illusion to make their lives bare able.
- he described religion as a painkiller hence his famous reference to the “opium of the people”. What was needed was to cure the sickness not to sedate the patient.
What effects does science create on atheism?
- science has begun to explain the universe without any needs to reference God.
- thanks to Dawkins we have been shown that life could have evolved rather than have been created by a God. Our soul purpose is to pass on DNA.
- Big Bang theory, there was enormous pressure building up within space, and this pressure built up and exploded, as the explosion expanded this created the world. NO GOD NEEDED
What effects does the problem of evil face atheism with?
It challenges the notion of an all loving God.
…if God was omnibelivent he would want to stop suffering…
…if God was omnimiscunt he would know to stop suffering…
…if God was omnipotent then he could stop suffering…
HOWEVER suffering still exists!!!! Eg tsunamis ect.
What needs to be included into an introduction on atheism?
DEFINITIONS-
Atheism- without God.
Strong atheist- a strongly held belief that God does not exist.
Weak atheism- absence of the belief of God.
Agnosticism-it is not possible to know whether God exists or not.
Naturalism- nature operates nature NOT God.
Scepticism- no certain knowledge about anything, this God isn’t impossible.
