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Distinguish between religion and science
Distinguish between religion and science
Science v religion
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Perspectives of Christianity Term Paper Protest Atheism: The Myth That Denies Gods Existence Due to Evil INTRODUCTION THESIS 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. Context Deus is the Latin word which means god, most of our translations are decedents from the Latin language. The theory of Deism is the belief in a single creator god, yet they reject revealed religion. Instead, they believe that the knowledge of this god comes from rationality and experience with the created world. Another common belief among Deist, is the rejection of the idea of a personal god. Deist affirms the existence of God but believes that after creation, God lacks the ability to interfere with his creation (such as granting miracles or creating prophets), and he does not desire worship. The deistic approach is not as pessimistic as the protest atheists view, though it shows another view that opposes theism and that contradicts a full atheistic approach such as protest atheism. The term that I believe most contradicts... ... middle of paper ... ...e eye to eye with religion. Works Cited Class Lecture – What is Theology? Date unknown, Professor Rivera Class Lecture –Protest Atheism and Atheism Lecture Date unknown, Professor Rivera "EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 & 2." EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014. "Harris Creek Baptist Church." Harris Creek Baptist Church. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014. "Karl Marx on Religion: The Opiate of the Masses?" About.com Agnosticism / Atheism. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014. "Read CT1StuGu.pdf." Read CT1StuGu.pdf. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014. "Types of Theism." About.com Alternative Religions. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014. Weinberg, Rick. "ESPN MAGIC." N.p., n.d. Web. "Where Was God? An Interview with David Bentley Hart." Where Was God? An Interview with David Bentley Hart. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
H.J McCloskey’s article, “On Being an Atheist,” is an attempt to show atheism as a more practical alternative to the Christian belief. McCloskey reasons against the theistic beliefs of the cosmological argument, the teleological argument and design. He references the presence of evil in a world created by God and the absurdity of living by faith. This article is an attempt to reason that God does not exist because He is perfect and the world is not perfect; evil exists therefore God cannot exist. McCloskey’s article labels these arguments as “proofs” and concludes none of these arguments would be evidence of God’s existence. I find McCloskey’s article to lack logic and coherence which only serves to invalidate his arguments. I find this little more than an attempt to justify his own atheistic worldview.
The Canadian philosopher J.L. Schellenberg has recently put forward an argument for atheism based on the idea that God is supposed to be perfectly loving and so would not permit people to be deprived of awareness of his existence. If such a deity were to exist, then, he would do something to reveal his existence clearly to people, thereby causing them to become theists. Thus, the fact that there are so many non-theists in the world becomes good reason to deny the existence of God conceived of in the given way. I first raise objections to Schellenberg’s formulation of the argument and then suggest some improvements. My main improvement is to include among the divine attributes the property of strongly desiring humanity’s love. Since to love God requires at least believing that he exists, if God were to exist, he must want widespread theistic belief. The fact that so many people lack such belief becomes a good argument for atheism with respect to God conceived of in the given way. Some objections to this line of reasoning are considered, in particular the claim that God refrains from revealing himself to people in order to avoid interfering with their free will or to avoid eliciting inappropriate responses from them or some other (unknown) purpose. An attempt is made to refute each of these objections.
Berlinski opens up by giving an introduction to the scientism of the new atheists and presents his own critique on a common slogan of the party: religion as a primary cause of evil in the world. Berlinski explains that the issues atheism has caused in the world cannot be ignored. Fundamentally because what atheistic regimes did not believe is more important than what they did believe in. Therefore, this is the real cause of many twentieth century problems. Berlinski explains: “What Hitler did not believe and what Stalin did not believe and what Mao did not believe and what the SS did not believe and what the Gestapo did not believe and what the NKVD did not believe and what the commissars, functionaries, swaggering executioners, Nazi doctors, Communist Party theoreticians, intellectuals, Brown Shirts, Black Shirts, gauleiters, and a thousand party hacks di...
Nevertheless, Marx's atheism survived today. We all know that such abuse of religion that Marx criticized really exist. But if there is a genuine religion in practice implemented the doctrine that God has revealed, then Marx's critique does not stand.
Hick, John. Disputed Questions in Theology and the Philosophy of Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. Print.
The existence of god has been relentlessly debated with many strong arguments. This essay will primarily discuss the most prevalent arguments for and against the existence of a higher being. Although there are many strong arguments for both atheism and theism, ultimately the theist point of view is greater justified morally and logically.
"The Christian god can easily be pictured as virtually the same god as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites”(Jefferson). Atheism is the belief that God does not exist and Judaism believes in only a unitary God and Christianity believes in the Trinity of God. This natural progression might be thought of as the stair steps to truth, but whose truth is the real question we need to answer, and I can assure you that it cannot be answered in a mere 8 pages. Disregard you’re current opinion and give merit to each point of view, and then decide which is right for you.
Religion is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods, a particular system of faith and worship or a pursuit or interest followed with great devotion (Oxford Dictionary, 2014). From religion, many new groups, communities and further derived religions have formed. Closely related to religion and with endless controversies surrounding it’s classification as a religion is the concept of Atheism- which is defined as the disbelief or rejection of a deity. Descending from this is a social and political movement in favour of secularism known as New Atheism. Understanding the historical content concerning the emergence of atheism, this essay will then address how various aspects within the field inclusive the goals, structures and approaches have emerged and developed over time in comparison to the original atheist ideals.
Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999
Peacocke, A. R. Theology for a Scientific Age: Being and Becoming--natural and Divine. Oxford, OX, UK: B. Blackwell, 1990. Print. (BL 240.2 .P352 1990)
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.
The term ‘atheism’ first emerged in the 1500’s, based on the Ancient Greek vernacular used for ‘godless’. From the very beginning, there were a distinction in the way that people would choose to reject the notion of deities; positive atheism and negative atheism. Negative atheism, also know as ‘soft’ atheism, is when a person does not believe in deities but does not make the assertive claim that there are none that exist. The counterpart to negative atheism, positive atheism, is not negative atheism’s opposite but its more assertive variation. Positive atheism, unlike negative atheism, asserts with full confidence that deities cannot, have not, and will not objectively exist in ways that actively initiate real-word events. Negative atheism was coined by British philosopher Antony Garrard Newton Flew (February 11th 1923- April 8th 2010). Positive atheism’s publicity predates the coining of the term ‘negative atheism’ by a couple of centuries. Negative atheism was first coined as a term in 1976, and positive atheism was first...
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.
Cortez, Marc. Theological Anthropology: A Guide for the Perplexed. New York: T&T Clark International, 2010. Print.
Atheism: the disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods. In the context of understanding how atheism can have beneficial factors on one’s life, it is vital to create the comparison to religion. While both paths of observance are positive, atheism, compared to religion, is able to produce a more rational and level-headed person, which in turn creates confidence and self-esteem. The “practice” of atheism is a personal connection and in reference to its beneficial factors, it is able to use these points to strengthen the claim, according to research.