...J. McCloskey gets most of his strong statements against the belief by asking the atheist to provide sufficient proof that God exists. However, McCloskey is not the only person who is unsure and asks questions God’s existence based on personal beliefs or influence. From the beginning many people have had questions about God and his existence. He wrote numerous books on atheism between 1960 and 1980 including the famous book, God and Evil. This paper evaluates the credibility of McCloskey’s article “On being an Atheist”. One of the McCloskey’s core arguments against theism is his demand for any proof that ascertains theists’ beliefs on God’s existence. He believed that atheism is more comforting than theism because most Christians do not believe in God because of proof but because of certain reasons and factors, he is looking for more solid evidence in God’s existence. However, there are several reasons why a person should believe in the existence of God. Firstly, theists believe that God is the creator of all things and of nature. Therefore, God is the creator of all things in existence and that affect both the atheists and theists are affected by this. The Bible also states, that Koran and other religious literatures all communicate the existence of a high power with some similar characteristics. These writings have been in existence for several years without any alteration of which both theists and atheists draw their arguments. Therefore, to some point, atheists have to believe...
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...curriculum a fault line erupted between those who think of intelligent design as science and something that should be taught alongside evolution, and those who think of it as religion disguised as science. As a science teacher myself, I was very interested in this subject, and how school districts nationwide are pushing initiatives recently to put intelligent design in their biology classes. These school districts are struggling with the dilemma of whether or not to teach creationism as an alternative view to evolution theory. If, as many scientific creationists believe, God's message is important in defining the content, aims, and conditions of educational practice, then creationism does belong in the classroom. However, those who propose that creationism is not science, and that "creation science" is a misnomer, are opposed to the intervention of religion into the public educational program; after all, public educational programs should be separate from concerns of the church. The Scientific Argument against Intelligent Design “Evolution has three core, defining elements, life forms change over time; they all descended from one or a few common ancestors; and natural selection produces these effects” (Slack 2007). But what exactly is Intelligent Design? Intelligent Design is a recent theory proposed that says that when you examine nature there are too many coincidences...
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...or not to teach the Evolution theory to children in the state of Arkansas. Type of Speech: Supreme Court Organizational Pattern: Event Introduction: Attention Getter: How many people were taught the Theory of Evolution in a high school class? Thesis: In this speech I will present the facts of the court, the religious views of Evolution, both sides of this argument, including Susan Epperson’s side and Arkansas State’s side, and the judicial decision. Preview Statement: In this speech I will present the facts of the court, with both sides of the argument, and the judicial decision. (Trans: I will begin today by presenting how the theory of evolution contradicts religion). Body: I. In the case of Epperson vs. Arkansas, the driving force behind the ban of the theory of evolution were moral views. A. The population of Arkansas in the 1960’s was made up of rural traditional families with conservative views. 1. The conservative views were mainly affiliate with religious beliefs. 2. The driving force behind the outlaw of the teaching of evolution was the fact that evolution, “contradicts a literal interpretation of the first chapter of Genesis.” 3. In the first chapter of genesis, the bible explains how god created the world in seven days. It states how god specifically created each and every species of animal. It then speaks of god’s creation of man, and the story of Adam and Eve. 4. The contradiction begins with the theory of evolution explaining humans being...
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...the question we face! For many years Theists and Atheist have debated this question for many years along with their central views and beliefs that we as human being rely on as it relates to Life and God. The Point of views and debates center around the Cosmological Argument, the Teleological argument (argument from Design) and the most debated argument as it relates to this topic called the Problem with evil? When questioning wither or not God Exist these traditional arguments play significant roles in investigating and proving or discrediting someone’s view or stance on this specific Philosophical belief. As you read McCloskey article “On Being an Atheist” he argues the Theist stance who believe in the Existence of God from the perspective view of an Atheist. McCloskey in writing this Article is not trying to discredit their belief in the Existence of God, but to raise questions, doubts and uncertainties concerning their arguments on which they stand on to prove their belief by ultimately concluding that the Theist arguments are not valid and should be disregarded as evidence to prove their belief in the existence of God. The problem with McCloskey argument against the argument of Theistic View is the Theist argument is not to literally prove their belief concretely on the existence of God, but there view is design to give us what is called “Best Explanation”. According to Forman Best Explanation “is to Arrive at a view you can live with, to discover which view offer the Best...
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...Examine the arguments against the teleological argument for the existence of God? (30) The design argument is also known as The teleological argument; it is an argument for the existence of God or for a higher more intelligent creator. The earliest version of the argument is associated with Socrates in ancient Greece. One argument which disagrees with the teleological is an argument from the famous philosopher David Hume, who said that even though the universe shows features which imply there is design meaning there is a God, the world is also imperfect and full of suffering. This could suggest to us that there isn’t an all loving and omnibenevolent God, Hume also argued that there is no evidence that the universe needs a designer meaning that it could have just come about naturally, this would link back the teleological argument because in the teleological argument it states that the universe has order meaning that there must be a creator who provided this order, so Hume could suggest that order came about naturally without a God. Hume also stated that no one has any evidence to prove that the Universe is not just the result of pure chance or luck, this would go against the teleological argument because he is saying there was no God to design the world and it was a natural occurrence which wasn’t planned or designed. Hume argued for the early forms of the theory of natural selection, he said that animals can adapt to respond to their surrounding and that the large amounts...
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...“Creationism, as told in genesis is the better theory of explaining human life than evolution”. Today I am here to defend my Christian position on the creation of life in opposition to evolutionary scientific theory. I will like to begin by explaining that As a Christian we are compelled by faith by the exterior force that created life. We refer to this force as God and his son Jesus Christ who is our Lord and Savior. We rebuke scientific evolutionary theory fabricated by man. For us Christians we seek for the truth in the word of God, which is the Bible, and the ultimate source of truth and knowledge. The opening statement of the book of Genesis 1:1 reads as follow ” In the Beginning God created the heaven and Earth” (King). Here is evidence that prove that the Supreme Being, which is God, is the only and unique basis of the creation of universe. It does not emphasize on the beginning of God, as there is not beginning or end to the existence of God. But, rather it tells us about the beginning of time and the creation of earth, as well as the environment in which we live. The book of Genesis explains in specific details how the sequence of events developed. The word of God is not a fictional source of entertainment like Charles Darwin’s book “ On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection”. Although evolutionary theory is an opposition of the biblical account of creation we believe the Bible provides an accurate account that explains the creation of the earth and...
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...Media Forms The theory of evolution from paper to the internet The theory of evolution must ‘evolve’ with the transforming media forms around it to maintain its scientific and social relevance. In other words, it must shift from the conventional media forms such as journals, books and publications and move towards the ways of the internet. Even collective groups of scientists and evolutionists can be shifted from physical to online gatherings via the ways of the internet and its related technologies. The majority of internet users throughout the world see the net as simply an enormous link-up of the world’s computers, after all, this is the ‘universal answer’ people tend to give when asked “what is the internet?”. Although this common answer is a pretty accurate image, it would be more correct to describe the internet as a “global network of hardware and software which stores and transports information from a content provider to an end user” . This infrastructure allows any person who wishes to say anything, access to say it to the world. Controversial topics are abundant on the World Wide Web, and this media form enables these topics to be discussed, investigated, or challenged. Evolution is defined as being: “A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form”. Arguments for evolution include The Fossil Record, Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection, and Biological Evidence. Arguments against evolution include The Second...
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...Creationism Vs. Evolution in Today’s Society The dispute between creationism and evolution is a long debated controversy. It is an argument most people choose to avoid. This debate is extremely controversial due to personal belief, most in part due to secularism and religion. Even with the exponentially increasing knowledge of today, it has remained a long fought controversy throughout the twenty-first century. Science deals with the mind, and is the backbone of modern civilization. Religion deals with emotions, and often teaches people invaluable ethical principles. Both Science and Religion are vital in our culture in order for humanity to progress. In order for society to progress, children should be taught about both evolution and creationism, and taught to question both theories. As a result, our children will be open-minded and have the skills to “think outside of the box”. The theories of today and from the past are ones regarding strong factual evidence that has been extensively tested through the scientific method. The Theory of Evolution states that life has evolved from simple, single-celled organisms that all share a common ancestor. Throughout history these organisms faced the challenges of survival, and because of this, became more complex. Different stimuli, in different parts of the world, cause organisms to evolve differently. When these different simple organisms meet, there is often competition between the two in order to reproduce and/or survive. This occurs...
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...that would mean that I cannot use the body theory. They also share the same memories as I do so that would eliminate the memory theory. The illusion theory claims that there is no self that persists through time and we are constantly changing every moment, so I could not use that theory. The only one remaining that I could attempt to use is the Soul theory (Ultimate Questions, p 109). I would have to show the judge or the jury that while physically we are identical the imposter does not have the soul that I have. 2. Biologically yes we are identical to the fetus, but I don’t think that it would be accurate to suggest that we are the same because of the immense psychological, emotional and physical growth and development that we go through as we mature. The body theory would say that since we are numerically the same as when we were babies that we are the same regardless of our qualitative identity. The illusion would vehemently deny that we are the same as the fetus because we are constantly changing. The memory theory would say that we are different because a fetus does not have memories. It is hard to know what the Soul Theory would say because I do not know exactly when the soul enters into our bodies, but if it enters at conception then they would suggest that we are identical to the fetus and if it enters at birth then we are not the same. Out of all of the theories of personal identity I would say that I agree with the body theory the most, I don’t agree with any of them...
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...Epistemology, at its core, is a study in the theory of knowledge and can be characterized by the investigation into the nature and grounds of knowledge; it seeks to answer questions about what kinds of things we know and how we know them1. The field is broad and relevant to many different areas of society, but there are numerous facets to epistemology that contribute to significant debate between philosophers. Churchland covers a lot of ground in this introductory chapter in epistemology, but I plan to focus on just a couple of key components presented in the chapter. In this paper, I will briefly touch upon the distinction between rational and empirical epistemology, highlighting the key arguments presented by each side. Additionally, I plan...
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...of God simply do not provide evidence that there is one omnipotent, omniscient being. His arguments about “proofs” question why people are theists, and why theists should abandon their arguments or “proofs”. He claims that most people do not believe in God because of their lack of knowledge about evolution, but in fact most theist believe in God and consider themselves theists, because there is documented evidence that supersedes any “hypothesis” or “theory” that scientists have on the life forms on earth, and even earth itself. “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) Although an atheist may make a convincing argument about there not being a God, and we are all products of evolution, there is no documented, definitive evidence that is fact. Darwin himself even labeled evolution as such, “the theory of evolution.” However, I do believe McCloskey makes a very valid point about the arguments he, as an atheist, is challenging, and he defends his ideas very well. While I can appreciate the theory that it is possible that the universe was a cluster of stars and then one day something exploded and miraculously the galaxies and solar systems were formed and, luckily for us there was one planet that was capable of sustaining life and microscopic organisms and bacteria evolved into all living things that we know today, there are still valid arguments to be made for God. McCloskey argues that the mere existence of the world constitutes no reason...
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...Pure Logic vs. Scientific Logic “Reasoning is an art, and reasoning about the natural world is the art that lies at the base of science” (Castel and Sismondo 55). Pure logic is “a form of reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity” (Oxford Dictionaries). In contrast, scientific logic is a form of reasoning in which a logical thought process is used to conduct experiments and research in order to reach a valid conclusion. Altogether, pure and scientific logic are different forms of reasoning used to solve everyday problems in life; yet, it is ‘scientific logic’ that is more prevalent in solving everyday problems, including critical interpretations of major problems on earth. Scientific logic is the best choice to cope with life problems in the midst of global issues; it helps facilitate our logical expertise in daily matters; it is both predictable and reliable; and on a greater scale, scientific logic helps us deal with the widespread problems on earth. With the growth of science and new emerging technologies, life is becoming more complicated, therefore relying purely on logic is insufficient. “Most of the time very little follows logically from what we know, and when we think that it does we learn that most of our knowledge consists of generalizations that don’t hold 100 percent of the time” (Castel and Sismondo 71). People live in a world of probability and because “scientific reasoning develops over time,” (Castel and Sismondo 74) they...
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...McCLOSKEY PHIL 201-D10 FALL 2011 DR. EDWARD MARTIN BY IVAN DERRICK COOKE Cooke 2 INTRODUCTION In 1968, atheist philosopher H.J. McCloskey composed a strong argument on how being an atheist was far superior to the theistic lifestyle. This imperious article was published in the journal Question and reflects McCloskey’s view that “atheism is a much more comfortable belief than theism, and why theists should be miserable just because they are theists.”1 In his article, McCloskey seeks to disprove many of the arguments that theists believe and often seemingly ridicules or persecutes those who believe in God. Among the arguments McCloskey attempts to minimalize, there are three common proofs that many, if not all, theists lean on for their belief in God. These proofs include the cosmological proof, the teleological proof, and the argument from design. Furthermore, McCloskey speaks on the problem of evil and how the existence of evil disproves the reality of a God. Near the end of McCloskey’s article, he also insists that atheism is comforting, claiming that it is more comforting than theism. This paper will debate the validity and truth of the three claims that McCloskey seeks to discount in his article and will further debate the problem of evil and disprove the idea that atheism is comforting. PROOFS VS. ARGUMENTS ------------------------------------------------- McCloskey often slights the theistic view as one of vagueness and ignorance. He states, when referring to...
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...Outline I. Introduction Thesis: In studying the underlying constructs of psychology – the origins of humanity, human nature, and human purpose – one sees the extensive influence of evolution. When contrasted with the biblical view of creationism, it becomes clear that modern psychology shares little in common with biblical principles. II. Basic Constructs of Human Psychology A. Human 1. What is a human being? 2. How do humans differ from animals? B. Human Behavior 1. Thought, feeling, action 2. Inner and outer worlds of human perception III. Human Origins A. Evolution 1. Life from non-life material/Big Bang Theory 2. Genetic mutation 3. Natural selection a. Competition as the foundation of behavior b. Law of the Jungle B. Creationism 1. God created the universe and all creatures 2. Each species was created separate and distinct 3. God created man special in God’s own image IV. Human Nature A. Evolution 1. Survival of the fittest a. Social behavior b. Mating c. Reproduction 2. Behaviorism a. Behavior is a combination of social learning and genetic influencces b. Effect on antisocial behavior on reproduction 3. Biological determinism a. No real basis for free will B. Creationism 1. Humans were made in God’s image a. God is love, justice, kindness, and joyful 2. The Fall of Man separated humans from God a. ‘War’ between good and evil b. Man’s nature is now sinful 3. Jesus the Son of God redeemed human...
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...21201085 WENDY KARANI APOLOGETICS MIDTERM OPEN SOURCE PAPER. 1. What is Christian Apologetics and why should we do it Apologetics is defined as "reasoned arguments or writings in justification of something, typically a theory or religious doctrine." It is to be specific with this class, a branch of Christianity that deals with the aspect of defending the Christian faith against those who care to attack us. Apologetics comes from the Greek word “apologia” or in Greek: ἀπολογία which when translated mean a “defense especially of one's opinions, position, or actions”. Apologetics is therefore in reference to Christianity is a field in which apologists provide rational arguments with adequate information in order to defend their faith against objects provided by members of the secular society....
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