The Existence of God Flashcards
Theist
Someone who believes in a God or Gods
Monotheism
Belief in one God
Polytheism
Belief in many Gods
Atheist
Someone who believes there is no God
Agnostic
Someone who believes it is impossible to know if God exists
Design Argument
The belief that the world is so complicated it must have had a designer
First Cause Argument
The belief that there is a first cause that started everything else off - this cause was uncaused and is God so he was the cause of the universe.
Moral Argument
The belief that everyone has certain rules inside of them that have been given to the by the universal law giver - God. Kant believed that everyone has a sense of morality, God gave us moral sense when we are born. In addition Aquinas thought God had given everybody a conscience.
Infinite Regression
The belief that time has no beginning or end
Incompetent Design
If there was a designer of the world then it is not a very good designer as the world is so badly designed - e.g. earthquakes etc.
Problems with the Design Argument
- Surely a loving designer would not have designed a world where people could not hurt or hurt by creation.
- Why are there disease and natural disasters?
- They are explanations such as:
- The designer is cruel - and didn’t want a design a perfect world
- The designer is incompetent - and didn’t have the power to create a perfect world.
- There is no designer
- Points to natural evolution - one that doesn’t involve a God?
Problems with the First Cause Argument
- Who’s to say that the world has a cause? Why could the existence of things not go back forever - before the world there were other things that existed.
- Hindu’s believe that time is like a wheel - no beginning or end - showing there is no first cause
- Dawkins asks, why if we think that God cannot be caused, can the universe also not have a cause - God is not necessary.
Problems with the Moral Argument
Kant thought everybody had a sense of morality but why do different people in different countries have different idea about what is right and wrong.
What do women in Islamic countries have done to them if the commit adultery?
They are stoned to death. Many british people would think that it’s wrong yet in Iran considered to be right.
Social Conditioning
Idea that morality is learnt, from parents, teacher and the government for instance rather than being given this sense of God; therefore God need not exist as Kant claims
Against God existing - The God of the Gaps
Richard Dawkins is a scientist and an atheist. He believes that everything has a scientific explanation, however at the moment at the moment there are gaps in our scientific knowledge. Dawkins believes that in the future these gaps will be filled with more research and experiments carried out. Some people use God to explain these gaps.
Problems with the God of the Gap Argument
- Some people for example St. Bernadette, St. Paul or Nicky Cruz had experienced God either through visions or other forms of revelation. For them God is not just a fictional idea but real.
- Many argue that science and religion answer many different questions, how and why? Einstein said ‘Religion without science is blind and science without religion is lame’
