Challenges To Religious Belief Flashcards
Theodicy?
Justification of God in the face of evil ad suffering
Privation?
A lack of an essential characteristic or property
Eg. Blindness is a lack of sight
Inconsistent Triad?
God cannot be omnipotent and omnibenevolent or evil would not exist
Epistemic Distance?
Gods existence is not obvious to humans in order to allow free will
Eschatological?
The end times or last days of the Universe; often a reference to the afterlife
Intelligent Design?
A scientific theory which suggests some features of the Universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligence, not an undirected process such as natural selection
Natural Selection?
The process in nature where the organisms best adapted to their environment survive and pass on their genetic characteristics while those less adapted tend to be eliminated
Irreducible Complexity?
A single system composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function of the system, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning
Young Earth Creationism?
The world is 6,000 years old according to Bishop Usher
Old Earth Creationism?
A ‘day’ in Genesis 1 is interpreted as a period of time, not 24 hours; agrees with science that the Earth is ancient, but God created it
Omphalos Argument?
God created the world with an appearance of age
NOMA?
Non-overlapping magesteria
Theistic Evolution?
An acceptance of evolution and modern science but seeing God in control of the process
Progressive Creationism?
God started the Big Bang and created all the species, allows for adaptation within species
Anthropic Principle?
The structure of the universe is such that is was inevitable that humankind would develop
