Atheism and Critiques of Religious Beliefs Flashcards
What does atheism mean?
Without/no god
What is weak atheism and strong atheism?
weak - simple skepticism, absence of the belief in God
strong - explicitly held belief that God does not exist. Same as anti-theism offering arguments against religious beliefs considering it wrong or dangerous rather than simply choosing not to believe for themselves
Who says ‘theism and atheist - the fight between them is as to whether God shall be called God or have some other name.’
Butler
Who argues contradictory affairs in the world count against the existence of God and what is his quote?
Salacrou
‘the existence of a world without God seems to me less absurd than the presence of a God, existing in all of his perfections, creating an imperfect man and making him run the risk of hell.’
How does Orwell describe atheists who dislike believers or beliefs?
‘the sort of atheist who does not so much not believe in God as personally dislike him’
Who says: ‘to seek the truth may mean overcoming the fear that one’s own certainties and most cherished convictions may be wrong, or the fear of facing the consequences of a claim to the truth.’
Vardy
Who coined the term agnostic and what did it mean?
Huxley
the opposite of gnostic - greek term for those who professed to have special revelatory knowledge of God.
An agnostic may claim to be open to the possibility of knowledge leading to belief rather than non belief
Who argued that only knowledge of regular, observable sequences could constitute positive knowledge. Science is only capable of dealing with questions that could be tested.
Hume
What is a functional explanation of religious beliefs and what is a projective explanation?
identifies the function it serves in society
identifies the way in which humans project their fears, anxieties and subconscious feelings on to the object of worship
Explain Durkheim’s sociological critique of religious belief?
religion serves to unite and preserve the community ‘beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community.’
He likened religion to a primitive clan worshipping the totem which symbolised God and the unity of the clan. God doesn’t exist but what does is a unified social system which believes that it owes its being to God. Belief is expressed in shared rituals.
Deities are the projection of power in society. Humans had become dependent on society so had given it sacred significance. Humans make things sacred or profane
Explain Marx’s sociological critique of religious belief
God is an invention of the human mind to satisfy emotional needs, the ruling class use it to dominate and oppress people by offering them the illusion of escape 'it eased pain and even created the fantasies.' Religion is so fully determined by economics that it is pointless to consider any of its doctrines or beliefs for their own merits. Only when a revolution overthrows the ruling class can the oppressed be liberated - only by loving one another rather than God can humanity be restored religion taught that only supernatural intervention could solve problems on earth so diverted attention from real source of oppression and kept the ruling class in power
What is liberation theology in america and how does it go against Marx’s argument?
it blends marxism and christianity in an attempt to change the nature of society for the oppressed without rejecting belief in God.
What does Weber argue against Marx?
religion promotes social change and capitalism developed in Europe due to protestant ethic of hard work and self denial
Who argues that the christian church offered a radical challenge to the roman authorities?
Engels
Who argued religion was a ‘universal neurosis’ an illusion which humans should disregard in its relation to reality.’ origins of religious belief lays in primitive tribes where tension between dominant and subordinate males culminates in the overthrow of the father what is this a manifestation of and explain it
he maintained God was a manifestation of the super ego repressing anti social impulses by inducing fear and guilt which is crucial to civilization. Man relied on God to ‘make his helplessness tolerable.’
Freud
Oedipus complex - once a child is weaned it become aware of a world beyond its mother and sees its father replacing it in its mothers affections, jealously felt towards the father manifests as guilt and leads them to elevate his memory and worship him