Geisler describes atheism as a belief that there is no God of any kind and anywhere. To discuss atheism, it is necessary to define first what the word "God" means and then what atheism is. Unfortunately, Geisler does not define God in his book, Christian Apologetics, but uses the word. Since it is about Christian apologetics, we will assume that God means the God of Christianity. Robert Flint points out that atheism is one of the theories which are "antagonistic to theism," among which are polytheism and pantheism, even though those two acknowledge the existence of deities. A group of American people who claim that they are athests defines atheism as a lack of belief in gods. They do not define the term "god," either. They emphasize that atheism is wrongly defined as a disbelief in gods or a denial of …show more content…
It must be a scary thing for a finite creature to deny the existence of any form of god. However, Paul Draper gives a clear definition of atheism refuting the claim of this group. He says that in philosophy, atheism is the negation of theism, and hence atheism is defined to be a proposition that there are no gods, which gives a direct answer to the important question in philosophy, "Is there a god?" But Draper admits that there are several meanings attached to atheism as some people identify atheism with naturalism or materialism. Flint also agrees with Draper to the fact that there are various forms of atheism and even among atheists, there are no consensus about what atheism means. Therefore, we will discuss atheism following Geisler's book mentioned above. Among the atheists which Geisler chose in his book, we will focus on Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, J. N. Findly, and Ludwig Feuerbach and their beliefs about
Peterson, Michael - Hasker, Reichenbach and Basinger. Philosophy of Religion - Selected Readings, Fourth Edition. 2010. Oxford University Press, NY.
This essay explains how he feels about any religion, “To choose unbelief is to choose mind over dogma, to trust in our humanity instead of all these dangerous divinities…The ancient wisdoms are modern nonsenses. Live in your own time, use what we know, and as you grow up, perhaps the human race will finally grow up with you, and put aside childish
8- McDermid, Douglas. "God's Existence." PHIL 1000H-B Lecture 9. Trent University, Peterborough. 21 Nov. 2013. Lecture.
Agnostics believe that it cannot be known that a God exists, or in some cases, that is currently unable to know if a God exists. So if asked the question; do you believe in God? An agnostic would say ‘I don’t know’. The reasoning behind this is that there is no direct evidence that a God exists, as well no evidence that one doesn’t exist” (Bott,
I will divide this paper in a few key points. The first is what Gnosticism is. The second is the
Theology is an intentionally reflective endeavor. Every day we reflect upon the real, vital, and true experience of the benevolent God that exists. We as humans tend to be social beings, and being so we communicate our beliefs with one another in order to validate ourselves. Furthermore atheism has many forms, three of the most popular atheistic beliefs include: scientific atheism, humanistic atheism and the most popular one being protest atheism. Scientific atheism is the idea that science is the answer for everything and god is not existent. The humanistic approach states that society is self-sufficient; therefore God is not needed for survival. Therefore how could he exist? The position that I will argue in this paper is the pessimistic idea of protest atheism.
Jesus, a name known by billions throughout the world. To each, this name means something different; savior, friend, philosopher, prophet, teacher, fraud, fake, liar. Some even believe that He is just an imaginary character from the minds of those who wrote about Him. The Westminster Dictionary of Theology describes apologetics as, "Defense, by argument, of Christian belief against external criticism or against other worldly views" (Apologetics 31-32). Though there are still many mysteries that surround the ongoing debate about Christianity, evidence can now prove some of what Christians took by faith before. Now, more than ever, there is information to prove the existence of this man that walked the earth more than two thousand years ago. Little remains of His life and works except for that which is contained within the pages of the Holy Bible. Throughout the past century alone, there have been numerous discoveries, both scientific and archeological; to further prove the existence of a man called Jesus and reinforce the Bible as a legitimate historical document. The validity of Christianity and Jesus Christ himself has been the center of religious controversy for centuries. Though His identity has not and probably never will be proven, He did exist. This paper will use apologetics to prove this so. Sufficient evidence proves the existence of Jesus and forms a firm basis for Christianity.
William Clifford was born on the 4th of May 1845 in Exeter England. He was an English mathematician and British philosopher. At the age of 15, William attended Kings College, London where he achieved a minor scholarship to Trinity College. Later after graduation he was invited to join the Apostles. He became concerned of many religious questions after studying the influential philosopher Thomas Aquinas and he decided to turn away from religion. Clifford’s philosophical standpoint was a major influence for his day. One of his greatest written accomplishments was an essay “The Ethics of Belief”.
Anum Munaf Dr. Caryn Voskuil PHIL-1301-83456 23 April 2017 Response Paper: Chapter 2 In Chapter two “God and the Origin of the Universe” of the book “Problems from Philosophy”, written by James Rachels and Stuart Rachels, a very interesting and contentious topic has been discussed. It is about the belief that God exists in this universe or not and this universe is created by God or it has been developed by chance. Rachels with the help of distinct types of arguments tried to prove that God exists in this world and the universe is created by some intelligent designer. At the beginning, he gave the results of recent Gallop poll and Pew Research Center polls to explain that how many people are religious and how many are non-religious.
4. Explain what Coates means when he says, “the god of history is an atheist.”
In reasoning; without doubt, religion is the belief of (or in) an existence whose state resembles a greater power than that of the individual. Atheism coming from the Greek word Atheos where "a" translates into the English word "without” ; theos into "God". Atheism's verdict being a philosophical ideal rejecting the belief of such a higher state or the existence of a God. This essay with analyze the geographical study, ethical implications, and culture comparisons of Atheism. Atheism’s geographical hearth, otherwise known as the origin, begins with an ancient Greek poet, and philosopher named Diagoras of Melos.
Russell, Bertrand. “Why I Am Not a Christian,” in Introduction to Philosophy. 6th edition. Perry, Bratman, and Fischer. Oxford University Press. 2013, pp. 56-59.
God can be defined as a being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions (1). There are many people that do not believe in any religion. People who do not believe in a religion have no reason for believing in a God. People who do not believe in a God and argue against the existence of God are proving something that is completely false. There is a God for numerous reasons.
Let’s start off by explaining what atheism is, it’s when you don’t believe in any form of an “Intelligent Creator” or God, as usually referred to as. The word atheism comes from the root word “theism”, which is when you believe in a God, or numerous Gods depending on the religion, and the prefix “a”, which means “not”. There are no set practices of atheism, or a set list of beliefs. To be an atheist you must believe what you would like and simply live your life without constraints based on what you believe is good or bad, not what you are told is good or bad. There is a constant debate against atheism from the theist side, because both sides’ arguments are polar opposites and each believes their side of the argument is 100% valid. I will state my view on some arguments, and clarify some common atheist stereotypes.
When first looking at the relationship between philosophy and religion, I found it easier to explain the differences rather than the similarities. I began this paper the same way I do others. This generally involves a profound amount of research on the topic at hand. However, in contrast to the other papers I have done, the definitions of philosophy and religion only raised more questions for me. It was fascinating how the explanations differed dramatically from author to author.