Philosophy of Religion

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Philosophy of Religion

• Michael Lacewing
• enquiries_at_alevelphilosophy.co.uk

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Two central questions

• What does it mean to talk of, or believe in, God?
• Is talk about God talk about something that
  exists independently of us? Or a way of talking
  about life?
• Does God exists state something that can be
  true or false? Or express an attitude?
• Does God exist?
• Can we answer this question by argument?

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THE NATURE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND LANGUAGE
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Belief-that

• Standard analysis content attitude
• Content what the person believes, given by a
  proposition
• E.g. He believes that elephants are grey.
• Belief-that aims at truth
• To believe that p is to believe that p is true.
• I believe him
• I believe that what he says is true
• I believe that he is trustworthy/sincere

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Belief in

• I believe in God I believe that God exists?
• I believe in love
• Not belief-that (no truth claim), but faith,
  trust, commitment

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Religious belief

• Does belief in God presuppose belief that God
  exists?
• Yes you cant believe in a person if you think
  they dont exist
• No you dont have believe that love exists
  (literally) to believe in love
• What is more basic in religious belief? Should
  belief-that be analysed as (really) belief-in or
  vice-versa?

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Does God exists state a fact?

• Not tested against empirical experience
• Not purely intellectual
• Theism not acquired by argument or evidence
• Religious belief is belief-in, an attitude or
  commitment, towards life, others, history,
  morality a way of living.

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Objections

• Different religions can prescribe similar ways of
  life while arguing for different beliefs about
  God
• Orthodoxy (right belief) has been thought very
  important
• What supports or justifies the attitude if not
  beliefs about how things are?
• Perhaps religions distinguished by their stories
• But stories dont justify commitments
• This approach makes religion too subjective

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Traditional belief

• God exists is objectively true or false.
• God refers to a being (in some sense) that
  exists independently of us, and has certain
  attributes.
• Monotheism perfect knowledge, power, goodness,
  creator of the universe

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Faith

• So can we know whether God exists?
• Belief in God faith
• What is faith based on?
• Reason at least reason can justify faith, even
  if it doesnt often cause it
• Revelation scripture
• (Religious) Experience mundane and miraculous

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Approaches

• Pope John Paul II rational knowledge and
  philosophical discourse are important for the
  very possibility of belief in God.
• Richard Swinburne The Coherence of Theism Gods
  existence is probable, considering all the
  evidence.
• Extreme fideism sin has damaged our ability to
  reason, so ignore reason.
• Moderate fideism faith goes beyond reason,
  but doesnt oppose it.

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Objection

• Many religious believers think that they do have
  some reason to believe in God.
• But they are willing to accept that the evidence
  for Gods existence is not very strong, so they
  say it is a matter of faith.
• This seems inconsistent it accepts belief in God
  is a matter of evidence and argument, but that we
  dont need to justify our conclusion by the
  balance of evidence.

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DOES GOD EXIST?
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Amazement

• Two natural phenomena often inspire amazement in
  us the night sky and life
• The first is vast, awesome
• The second is wonderful and intricate
• Philosophers can also be amazed that we can
  understand the world at all

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Life

• Organs serve a purpose heart pump blood eye
  seeing
• We understand parts of an organ in relation to
  serving this purpose
• A living organism requires huge coordination of
  tiny parts each functioning well complexity

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Design

• Complexity of this kind, the way parts work
  together, can indicate planning and design
  intentional purpose
• If life involves design, by definition, there
  must be a designer
• But are living organisms designed?

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Evolution by natural selection

• Darwin explained how the appearance of design is
  possible without design
• Genetic alterations happen randomly most
  disappear. But those that improve reproduction
  survive and spread in a population, altering the
  species
• Such alterations are not actually selected
  natural forces secure their survival

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Starry sky
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The fine tuning argument

• Why do we live in a universe in which life (and
  evolution) is possible?
• The conditions for life are very, very
  improbable. Life needs planets, and planets need
  stars.
• For stars to exist, the conditions of the Big
  Bang (how big, how much bang) had to be exact to
  1/1060

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1 in 1060

• 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  00000000001 percent
• As precise as hitting a one-inch target on the
  other side of the universe
• Thats for stars life is even more improbable
• Of course, if God designed the universe to
  develop life, this is not a massive coincidence

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Does the universe need explaining?

• The lottery argument
• Its incredibly unlikely, before the draw, that
  whoever wins will win.
• But someone will win.
• With enough chances, the incredibly unlikely can
  become inevitable.
• If there are lots of universes, one of them would
  have the right conditions for life.

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More questions

• What explains why and how the universe any
  universe exists in the first place?
• What is the best explanation for religious
  experience and miracles?
• If God is all-powerful, all-loving, and
  all-knowing, why does evil and suffering occur?