All of RS Notes From y10- December 2011

RS Notes

Theist- Someone who believes in a god/ gods

Monotheist- Someone who believes in only one god

Polytheist- Someone who believes in more than one god

Atheist- Someone who believes in no Gods

Agnostic- Someone who is unsure about religion

Cosmological Argument- is an argument for the existence of a first cause to the universe showing that there is a supreme being. Thomas Aquinas said that everything a series of cause and effect; every effect has a cause. Something cannot come from nothing. Therefore, if we chart back the process of cause and effect, we can back and back possibly to a hydrogen atom or cosmic soup. However what came before? What started it off? How did it get there? WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAUSE? Aquinas said that cause no.1 needs to be bigger than and external to the process of creation. Therefore, God exists he says. Problems- What caused God? Why couldn’t cause one be something else? Couldn’t the atom be eternal? Problems with the problems- The atom is not eternal. God doesn’t need a creator because he doesn’t have to follow the laws of creation: he makes them.

Teleological Argument- William Paley looked at his watch and thought about the universe and about God. He said: The world is complex. It couldn’t be chance, therefore it needs a designer. The designer needs to be more complex, more powerful and outside the thing created. Therefore God exists as the designer. Counter- Complexity could come as a result of evolution and the laws of science. Counter counter arguments- Who designed the laws of science?

Cosmological Argument or Teleological Argument? - There are important differences between these two similar but distinct arguments: Cosmological- Cause. Creator. Counter- Big Bang. Teleological- Design + Complexity. Designer. Counter- Evolution.

Arguments for God Existence Based on Morality- Morality is all about right or wrong (and our conscience). The question is, where is our conscience from?: 1. Intelligence/ Mind. 2. Parents and Up-Bringing. 3. Environment: Society/Laws/ Teachers/ Culture/ Media. 4. Evolution. 5. God.

Does Conscience Prove God’s Existence? - Conscience could be from our parents but then bad people come from good parents and vice versa. Or it could be from society but bad people come from good societies and vice versa. Or conscience could be chemical or evolved, but science is divided on aspects such as the ‘chemical gene’, and if we evolved a conscience it would surely resemble our parents’ DNA/conscience? Therefore the argument is suggested that God exists because our sense of right and wrong cannot be fully from elsewhere.

Miracles- extraordinary/supernatural/impossible event which defies scientific explanation and logic by happening perhaps as a result of a higher power. Examples- Parting of the red sea by Moses, Jesus turns water to wine, Resurrection of Jesus, Lazarus, Jaruis’ daughter, Various healings, Feeding of the 5,000, Various people being saved from death, Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) being saved from drowning, Virgin…