The Significance of Religion
Page 238-239
John Hick's parable, "The Road"
The choice between belief and unbelief influences one's view of oneself and so much more. The choice to accept of reject religion can deeply influence our view of ourselves and our destiny.
Defining Religion
Page 239
Religion is difficult to define because some religions do not believe in God, some have no official beliefs, some are not institutionalized, and some do not value personal commitment.
Professor Ninian Smart
Page 240
...Suggests that religion has 6 dimensions. Although not all six dimensions are found in all religions, every religion shares in most of these to some degree:
(1) Doctrine, or a set of beliefs about the universe and its relation to the supernatural, such as the belief that there is a single God who created the universe or the belief that the universe is controlled by the law of karma;
(2) Experience of , or an emphasis on, events in which the believer feels immediately and strikingly the presence of God or of a supernatural dimension;
(3) Myth, or a set of stories that convey sacred or special meaning, such as the story of Adam and Eve, or the story of the illumination of the Buddha;
(4) Ritual, or acts of worship, prayer, sacraments, and readings of sacred scriptures;
(5) Morality, or a set of rules and precepts that believers are enjoined to follow; and
(6) Organization, or an organized social group that preserves and perpetuates the religion.
Religious Belief, Religious Experience, and Theology
Page 240
Religious Belief: the doctrines of a religion about the universe and religion's relation to the supernatural.
Religious Experience: an experience of this supernatural dimension.
These are also intimately joined with the issue of self.
Theology: the study of religious beliefs, assumes that God exists and the beliefs are true.
Philosophy of Religion: studies religious beliefs but does not assume that they are true or that God exists.
Does God Exist?
Page 241
Theism: belief in a personal God who is creator of the world.
Monotheism: belief that there is only one God.
Scientific discoveries and theories today challenge religious belief, although for some reason, science strengthens belief. For some people, proof of God's existence is not needed, but for others, proof strengthens religious belief.
The Ontological Argument
Page 242
An argument by Saint Anselm that deduces the existence of God from the mere idea we have of God. God, Anselm reasoned, is "that than which nothing greater can be conceived." Since we understand this idea of God, this idea of God exists in our minds.
"Credo ut intelligam" - "I believe in order that I may understand." Thus, without belief, once can have no understanding of God.
Objections to Anselm
Page 244-246
Kant claimed that Anselm wrongly assumed existence is a real property that can be part of the concept of a thing - of the concept "that than which nothing greater can be conceived." But some philosophers argue that it is Kant that was wrong because existence can be a property.
Guanilo argued that if Anselm was right then one could "foolishly" prove that any bizarre thing, x, existed by defining it a "the x than which nothing greater can ever be conceived." Anselm replied that his argument worked only with an infinitely perfect being, and only God was infinitely perfect.
The Cosmological Argument
Page 246
Made by Saint Thomas Aquinas. In his monumental works, Summa Theologica, and Summa Contra Gentiles, Aquinas offers a total of five proofs. The two proofs we examine here begin with an observation about the physical universe. Thus, they are said to be a kind of cosmological argument because they result from a study of the cosmos.
First Cosmological Proof
Page 246-247
Aquinas' first cosmological proof says (1) Some things move. (2) What moves must be moved by another moving thing, which must be moved by another moving thing, and so on. (3) This series of moving movers cannot be infinite, for then their motion would have no origin. (4) The origin of their motion cannot be moving, for then it would have to be moved by another. (5) This unmoving origin of motion is God.
Second Cosmological Proof
Page 247
Aquinas' second cosmological proof says: (1) Some things are caused to exist by other things. (2) What is caused to exist must be caused by another thing, for nothing can cause itself to exist. (3) The series of causes cannot extend back infinitely, for then there for be no beginning to the existence of the series of causes, so no causes would exist at all. (4) So, there is first cause of existence, and this is God.
Objections to Aquinas
Page 247-251
Some critics say that Aquinas' views on motion were disproved by the scientific laws of motion Newton discovered, but supporters say they can be reconciled with Newtonian science. Aquinas also held that even if the universe existed forever, the existence of the entire perpetual chain of motions and causes still needs a cause to explain its source and that is God. David Hume responded that in an infinite chain of causes and motions stretching back in time, each individual motion or cause will have a previous motion or cause that explains it, and once each individual motion or cause is explained, the whole chain needs no additional cause.
Defenders of Aquinas say that the discovery of the "Big Bang" shows the series of motions and causes in the universe had a beginning and is not infinite, so an infinite regress is not possible anyways. Critics say if "everything has a cause," then God should have a cause, so Aquinas' starting premise is in conflict with his conclusion. But Aquinas says that only in our universe everything has a cause and that this requires a being who, unlike anything in the universe, is uncaused. Some of his defenders say Aquinas may be interpreted as believing that an endless series of explanations in which one thing is explained by some other thing ends up being no explanation at all.
Critics object that the cosmological argument does not prove a loving and personal God exists. Aquinas might respond that this objection does not show his argument is wrong, only that it has a limited purpose.
The Design Argument
Page 251
The design argument states that the order and purpose manifest in the works of nature indicate that they were designed by an intelligent Being. The design argument has turned out to be the battleground where much of the skirmishing between religion and science is now being waged.
The Divine Watchmaker
Page 251-252
Theologian William Paley's argument from design says: (1) If we find an artifact, like a watch, that is designed to achieve a purpose, we can conclude it was made by an intelligent being. (2) But things we find in nature, especially living things and their parts, are designed to achieve a purpose. (3) So, by analogy, we can conclude they were made by an intelligent being, and this is God.
Objections to the Design Argument
Page 254
Hume objected that although we know how artifacts like watches are made, we have no knowledge of how nature and living things are made, so for all we know nature and living things are produced by a non-intelligent mechanism. Charles Darwin argued that the non-intelligent mechanism of evolution through natural selection, working over millions of years, can produce living things whose parts seem designed to achieve some purpose.
Defenders of the argument from design argue that even if evolution is a fact, the believer can still hold that evolution is the means by which God produces living things and their parts.
Paley's Defenders: Intelligent Design
Page 256
William A. Dembski, a proponent of intelligent design, argues that the "specified complexity" of the arrangement of molecules in genes implies they were produced by an intelligence and not by chance or natural laws.
Paley's Defenders: the "Fine Tuning" Argument
Page 257
Others argue that if the features of the universe that make human life possible were slightly different, human life could not exist. It is so improbable that a universe would have these features out of an infinite range of other possible features it could have that they had to be deliberately selected by an intelligent Being to make human life possible. This is the "fine tuning" argument for God.
Atheism, Agnosticism, and the Problem of Evil
Page 260
Agnostics have concluded they just don't know whether or not God exists, atheists go a step further and decide that they know that God does not exist.
Atheism
Page 260
Atheists believe there are good reasons to think there is no God. Many atheists base their atheism on the ability of science and the scientific method to explain the material world and so focus their concerns on the world here and now. Many Atheists argue, like Hume did, that if a benevolent, omniscient and omnipotent God existed, there would be no evil. But there is evil, so a benevolent, omniscient and omnipotent God does not exist.
Theistic Responses to the Problem of Evil
Page 264
Augustine argued that God produces what is good and only what is good. Because evil is the absence of good, God does not produce evil. Moreover, what God creates must be finite and lack some good. So, if God is to create a finite world, and thereby bring at least some goodness into existence, it has to contain some evil.
Some believers argue that evil is necessary for good, in particular the good of human free will. Critics say an omnipotent God could produce good without evil, in particular that God could have left humans free but made them incapable of inflicting so much evil on each other. Moreover, this "Free Will" defense of God's existence would only explain "moral evil," it would not explain "natural evils.
Agnosticism
Page 267
Thomas Huxley, a well known agnostic, held "it is wrong" to believe unless one has evidence that logically justifies belief, so he "suspended judgement." Freud claimed that people believe because they have an "infantile" need to believe someone like a "father" is still watching over them.
Why We Believe: Kant's View
Page 270
Kant argued that our morality forces us to believe in the possibility of a just world where evil is punished and good is rewarded, and this is possible only if there is a God and an afterlife. So, we have to believe in a God and an afterlife.
Traditional Religious Belief and Experience
Page 272
For many believers, the arguments for and against the existence of God are inconclusive, yet this hardly matters to them. For their beliefs do not depend on rational proofs. Instead, they believe because belief seems to cohere - to fit - with what they have experienced in their lives, and with who they are. In short, they choose to believe "for reasons of the heart" even though they have no conclusive evidence that the beliefs they have chosen to adopt are true beliefs.
The Will to Believe"
Page 272
William James held that when an option is a "genuine" option, that by its nature cannot be decided on intellectual grounds, it is legitimate to choose on the basis of our passional nature., even without sufficient evidence in support of the option we choose. James answers critics who claim it is always wrong to believe without sufficient evidence by arguing that this claim itself has no sufficient evidence, so those who believe this claim believe it on the basis of their passional nature; the claim that it is legitimate to believe when faced with a genuine option that cannot be decided on intellectual grounds is also a claim that must be chosen or rejected on the basis of our passional nature.
Personal Experience of the Divine
Page 273
Many believe in God not on the basis of rational proofs but because of a direct personal experience of the divine. James claims that religious experiences of the divine are ineffable and noetic. Rudolf Otto called the direct experience of a religious reality a "numinous experience" and claimed it involves terror, fascination, difference, unworthiness, mystery and bliss. Davis argues that many people claim to have experiences of God, that such experiences are probably veridical, so probably God exists. Swinburne supports the claim that numinous experiences are probably real experiences of God with his principle of credulity which states that in the absence of special considerations, "if it seems (epistemically) to a subject that x is present, then probably x is present.
Nontraditional Religious Experience
Page 279
Radical Theology
Page 279
The radical theologians percieve God not as a being among other beings but as an aspect of reality. As a result, they feel that our relationship with God is more experiential than rational. The modern roots of this view can be traced to such thinkers as the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.
Kierkegaard
Page 279
...Distinguishes objective (dispassionate, scientific) from subjective (passionate, involved) thinking. Religious belief is not open to objective thinking, and it is useless to try to prove God's existence. This causes "anguish." Religion and God must be approached through a "leap of faith" a commitment that defies objective analysis.
Tillich
Page 281
Tillich claimed that traditional concepts of God objectified God and turned God into an "invincible tyrant." For Tillich, God is "the source of your ultimate concern" and "of what you take seriously without reservation." So, anyone who has an ultimate concern believes in God. He claimed that traditional proofs of God turn God into an object and ultimately lead to a loss of faith. But it is unclear what Tillich means by "God," and statements he makes about what "God" is seem to be mere tautologies.
Feminist Theology
Page 283
Feminist theologian Mary daly holds that the traditional concept of God is male, sexist, oppressive to women, and legitimates the patriarchy - the rule of men over women. We must reject it, especially in its Christian form and replace it with "the Goddess.
Eastern Religious Traditions
Page 286
Hinduism views Brahman as the only reality and all else is illusion; atman is the deepest consciousness within each person and distinct from the ordinary self which is an illusion. Hindu thought affirms enlightenment as the key to liberation from the great wheel of existence. The destiny of each is the enlightened realization that Brahman, the ultimate reality that underlies all the differentiated things in the universe, is identical with atman, the profound consciousness within each of us that underlies the illusorily self. When enlightened we at last can be freed from the wheel of existence.
Buddhism
Page 287-288
Buddhism emphasizes the four noble truths; All life is sorrow, sorrow arises from craving, stopping craving will stop sorrow, and the Noble Eightfold Path will stop craving; it requires the right views, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
Differences between East and West
Page 288-289
Broadly speaking, these forms of Eastern thought reject the Western concept of an all-powerful, all-knowing personal God and of the moral law as something God commands.