Challenges to Religious Belief Key Terms

Question 1

privation

Answer 1

a lack of an essential characteristic or property e.g. blindness is a lack of sight

Question 2

theodicy

Answer 2

justification of God in the face of evil and suffering

Question 3

inconsistent triad

Answer 3

God cannot be omnipotent and omnibenevolent or evil would not exist

Question 4

epistemic distance

Answer 4

gods existence is not obvious to humans in order to allow free will

Question 5

eschatological

Answer 5

the end times or last days of the universe; often a reference to the afterlife

Question 6

intelligent design

Answer 6

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

Question 7

natural selection

Answer 7

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

Question 8

irreducible complexity

Answer 8

a single system composed of several well matched interacting parts that contributes to the basic function of the system, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning

Question 9

young earth creationism

Answer 9

the world is 6000 years old according to Bishop Usher

Question 10

old earth creationalism

Answer 10

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

Question 11

omhalos argument

Answer 11

God created the world with an appearance of age

Question 12

NOMA

Answer 12

non-overlapping magesteria

Question 13

theistic evolution

Answer 13

an acceptanceof evolution and modern science but seeing God in control of the process

Question 14

progressive creationism

Answer 14

god started the big bang and created all species, allows for adaptation within species