God and the World
For some, that the world is as it is suffices to justify their belief in God. For others, the existence of God is incompatible with the world as they find it. Do facts about this world make God’s existence more or less plausible? What kinds of arguments support our conclusions and what are their limitations? How do we decide on the right way to describe the world and from what perspective?
If the evidence cannot determine whether the existence of God is more or less likely, then should we see the disagreement as merely a reflection of different personal feelings, attitude and commitments?
In this module you will study the following topics:
Proof of God (Design Argument) | Proof of God (Problem of Evil) | The religious point of view
Click on the above links to be taken to these sections.
The department is aiming to update these topics so that you will be able to access information about your course from this website. If you cannot download something or are having problems using the site, please contact Mr. Winter.
The argument from Design
- How is it possible to argue the existence of God based on apparent order and purpose in the world around us?
- How have these ideas been challenged?
- Do the challenges succeed?
- Is it possible to argue the existence of God based on William Paley’s Watch analogy?
- How do the inadequacies of naturalistic explanations support this analogy?
- How have these ideas been challenged?
- Do the challenges succeed?
The problem of evil
- How does the existence of evil count against the existence of an all loving and all powerful God?
- What is the philosophical difference between Moral and Natural Evil? How do these types of evil relate to one another?
- How do philosophers and theologians attempt to reconcile the evil we perceive with the existence of God?
- How does the notion of free will support the existence of God?
- Is it possible to argue God exists using the ideas of the best of all possible worlds or that we are here on this earth to grow and develop (soul making)
- Does the possibility of an afterlife justify the presence of evil with an all loving God?
The religious point of view
- To what extent is it possible to claim that the world can accommodate different perspectives (‘seeing as’)?
- What is meant by the ‘religious hypothesis’?
- Is it a ‘hypothesis’ at all?
- To what extent does religious ‘belief’ mirrors the feelings, attitudes and commitments of the religious rather than facts about the world?