The Universe

Why is there something instead of nothing?

What is the cause of the universe? The Big Bang? God?

Hinduism … ‘The predominant and indigenous religion of the Indian subcontinent’

Hinduism is a diverse system of thought with beliefs spanning monotheism, polytheism, … and atheism among others

Its concept of God is complex and depends upon each individual and the tradition followed

Within Hinduism a large number of personal gods are worshipped

For example, Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu

Glossary Terms

TERM DEFINITION

Monotheism The belief that there is only one God

Polytheism The belief in more than one God

UNIT 2 AOS 2

PHILOSOPY OF RELIGION

Philosophy of Religion

As a discipline, not endorsing any kind of view.

Traditionally at least in the encyclopedia of Philosophy – the study of the philosophy of religion has been primarily on western religions.

Our focus in Unit 2: Western conceptions of God. Monotheistic conceptions of God shared by Chritianinty, Judaism and Islam.

Note: There are Eastern conceptions: Hinduism, Buddhism etc

Is Bill Murray God?

Task

Write a paragraph/dot points about what God means to you. You don’t have to believe in God to complete this task – you just have to have some ideas about what the word ‘God’ generally means to people.

Include at least 3 key adjectives that you think describe ‘God’.

Present and explain one point to the class. When listening to other presentations, fill in the following table:

What does the word ‘God’ mean?

The idea of ‘God’ is complex, and many people have different ideas about it. However, for our purposes, we need a definition of ‘God’ that we can work with.

The key terms that you will learn today will help to narrow this definition.

Learning Intention

Students will be able to: Define 9 key terms associated with the

philosophy of religion

In most monotheistic religions, God is considered to be:

TERM DEFINITIONOmniscient All-KnowingOmnipotent All-powerfulOmnipresent Existing everywhereOmnibenevolent All-loving

Attitudes towards God

We are dealing with people, religious or non religious, in this study that believe that proofs for God's existence have potential bearing for whether God exists or not.

Three Attitudes 1. Believe it, affirm it, have a positive attitude towards it. Traditionally called theists. 2. You might disbelieve it, deny it, reject it – have a negative

attitude towards it. Traditionally called atheists. 3. You might be ambivalent towards it, non-committed

either way, haven't thought about it or have thought about it, but can't decide one way or the other.

Traditionally called agnostics.

Glossary

TERM DEFINITIONTheist A person who believes

that God existsAtheist A person who believes

that God does not existAgnostic A person who believes

that humans can never know whether God exists

Food for thought: If God is omnipotent, then can He create a rock so heavy that even He

cannot lift it?

ADIMINSTRATION

Contact Details Weekly Outline & Assessment SAC Exam

Does God exist?

Let's suppose you wanted to answer this question. How do we know he exists or not? Are there good reasons to believe in God? If so what are they? If belief in God is not warranted then what sort of argument might be put forward in support of atheism? Let's suppose God does exist, what sort of being would God be? What kind of being should God be? Are there many God's or just one? What about limitations? Are there any limits that can constrain what God can or cannot do? Is there a limit to what we can know about God? Perhaps belief in God is not something that requires goo reasons after all. Isn't faith enough? What about the problem of evil? Are miracles real?

Arguments

A priori (ey prahy-awr-ahy): arguments based on reason alone apart from experience.

A posteriori (ey po-steer-ee-awr-ahy): arguments which all start from experience somewhere. Uses at least one premise that is justified by a sense experience.

Cosmological Argument

A posteriori. Aquinas – ‘First Cause’ Argument. From

your readings, page 7. Primary Source: Summa Theologiae, ‘Five

Ways’. Task: Read and outline the first three

ways.