Atheism Essays (Examples)

They argue that the negative approach and terrible political decisions made by Bush as the president have been a circumstance of his religious outlook even if that is not the cause behind any of them. Hence, bush's inclusion amongst the theist has hurt the category more in recent time then helped just like the inclusion of Socrates of Jean-palm stare helped provide sufficient matter for the theists to benefit from in the long run (Viney, 2004).
Some of the famous quotes that have been said in arguments that centered on theism and atheism are (Miller, 2003):

From Alexander Pope: "Atheists put on false courage and alacrity in the midst of their darkness and apprehensions, like children who, when they fear to go in the dark, will sing for fear" (Miller, 2003).

From Sir Isaac Newton: "Atheism is so senseless. When I look at the solar system, I see the Earth…

Atheist
Atheism

There is much controversy regarding the concept of atheism, considering that religious people are traditionally inclined to believe that it provides individuals with nothing to hope for and that it detaches them from the ethical sector of society. The fact that religions are organized makes it possible for followers to live in a constant state of planning, as they focus on acting in accordance with the legislations put across by their religion. People have even gone as far as to claim that life can be more difficult for individuals who do not believe in a divine force. Although it is difficult to determine whether atheism is better than theism, it is only safe to say that people should not discriminate on account of religious preferences.

One of the main reasons for which religious people are unsupportive when concerning atheism is the fact that they have a limited understanding…

Philosophy professor Alvin Plantinga explains that the argument -- "If God is omniscient, omnipotent, and all-good, He would have created the best of all possible worlds" -- is not satisfactory at all.
"How, indeed, could one argue, from the existence of evil that it is unlikely God exists?" (Plantinga, 1974, 61). We have every reason to believe that "…all natural evils have perfectly natural causes," Plantinga quotes from Cornman and Lehrer; and therefore it is "…unreasonable to postulate some non-natural cause to explain their occurrences" (62).

Is Atheism really comforting?

McCloskey may be comforted with his beliefs, and a Christian will not and would not intrude on his comfort zone without just cause. ut he is talking in circles when he speaks about the "self-respect" and "self-reliance" that comes with being part of atheism. Actually those phrases fit perfectly into the Christian theology as well. McCloskey's use of semantics and…

The rigid theology of scientific, rational atheism as an antidote to the problems of religion was not found in Marx and Engels. Marx did see religion as fostering apathy to class divisions and as kind of a 'sop' to appropriate anger and revolutionary solidarity, but he believed that it would disappear of its own accord once the populace was made sufficiently aware of the cruelties of the class system. Lenin vehemently disagreed and believed that religion must be eradicated. A review of Dimitry V. Pospielovsky's A History of Soviet Atheism in Theory and Practice and the Believer noted: "The bloody persecution of the Orthodox church was well under way…on January 19, 1918…Sympathies toward the hites during the Civil ar (e.g. As shown by reciting a Te Deum) merited execution. However, even completely apolitical and even left-leaning clerics like Metropolitan Veniamin of Petrograd were tried and condemned. Veniamin's crime was to…

Biblical worldview to an alternate worldview (atheism)
There have been a number of different worldviews that have populated the earth in its vast history. One of the most fascinating aspects of this realization is the fact that despite a variety of different practices and customs associated with these worldviews, there is no indisputable proof that proves that any of these viewpoints are actually correct. The many different people who practice different religions such as Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, for example, are all convinced of the righteousness in their beliefs and in their God. But no one has ever offered proof of the truth of these Gods or of the religions that were developed to support them and their beliefs. In some ways, this lack of proof has led to the worldview known as atheism, in which practitioners disavow the presence of any sort of God whatsoever. This viewpoint is in…

Ironically shackled to home because of her health and unable to see this irony, Hulga again suffers because of her physical appearance. The physical world is important, her lost leg teaches her, through the instruction and instrument of Manley's crime.
Similarly, Jacob dies in a way that is horrifying to him, given his moral credo. Twain's comic style renders the death of a child funny rather than pathetic, given that Jacob has been rehearsing his death speech, and hoping for a glorious end since the beginning of the story. Twain suggests that it is likely that if Jacob lived, he would be a miserable, pious hypocrite. Instead, he is mistaken for being a 'bad boy' while trying to thwart the actions of other bad boys who leave the scene of the crime 'scott free.' Alderman McWelter, "full of wrath" strikes the boy which leads to the accident that leaves poor…

Communism and atheism are closely linked in the minds of many Americans. Similarly, most Americans see communism and Christianity and the Bible as significantly opposed to each other. Despite this association, there is a clear place for communist ideals within both the words of the Bible and many Christian practices.
Certainly, communism has a long association with atheism. The communist state of Russia abhorred religion, and those who practiced religion were often persecuted. Karl Marx, often considered the founder of modern communism, noted that "religion is the opiate of the masses," meaning that religion blinds the common people to evil and manipulation, and makes them content with their meager lives.

Interestingly, however, the Bible contains many passages that have a communist bent. These passages speak clearly to the need for communal living and sharing. Says the book of Acts, "All that believed were together, and had all things in common;…

Responding to McCloskey McCloskey conflates argument with proof because theists take the argument as proof—i.e., as something that cannot be refuted. For McCloskey just because they cannot be refuted does not mean that one has to accept that a deity is responsible for all creation. It is a leap of faith, in other words, that McCloskey is unwilling to take. For Foreman in “Approaching the Question of God’s Existence,” it is a leap of faith that one must take because it is reasonable, for instance in the face of the existence of evil, to surmise an opposite force of good that is the ultimate source of all goodness, including all of creation. Foreman’s faith is based on reason. McCloskey, however, would also argue that his atheism is based on reason. The difference in outcomes is that the proposition upon which each bases his rational argument is different. Foreman’s proposition is…

5. Kant's "Copernican Revolution" in philosophy is in his genius use of the positive aspects of Rationalism (Descartes and so on) and Empiricism (Locke, Berkeley and Hume). How can you argue this out with the help of the "Critique of Pure Reason"?

The human experience of negotiating the universe as it seems to be presented to us is one governed by a great many assumptions. Our education of this process, and in particular our capacity to become adept or even talented in various faculties thereto, is created by experience. In experience, we gain the evolving abilities to relate to objects which we can perceive in our world. However, in order to accomplish this, there are any number of beliefs which must be possessed in us that will create a framework wherein such relating can occur. These beliefs -- and the practical, ideological and physiological experiences which are dependent upon them…

Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Hume offers a complex and multifaceted analysis of the concept of God. The ongoing debate between atheism and theism is resolved in part by an assertion that human beings are technically incapable of absolutely knowing or defining, or at least simply speaking about God. Moreover, the debate between theism and atheism is nullified by the fact that it is difficult, if not impossible, to define God in terms satisfying or agreeable to all parties. There are anthropomorphic gods, creator gods, gods that interact with or interfere with human lives and gods that are distant and detached. Hume argues that any argument related to theism vs. atheism is invalid unless a definition of terms is provided clearly and adhered to consistently. Yet paradoxically, any discussion of God is cloaked in "perpetual ambiguity" because of the limitations of both human language and human cognition (Hume 217). Through the…

How is it possible, then, that we can come to know anything?
Methodological doubt is best represented in the first of the Meditations, "hat can be called into doubt."

In this meditation, the meditator is forced to think about everything that he has believed throughout the course of his life. He must then make a conscious decision to do away with all of these lies and begin again so that the basis of his knowledge is free of any lies.

4. hat is the difference between atheism and agnosticism?

Atheism means that there is a denial of theism (i.e., the existence of God) while agnosticism means that there is a question concerning the existence of God, a heaven, or any type of spiritual being. An atheist would believe that God does not exist and therefore does not have any control over his or her life while an agnostic would believe…

Watch Argument
An Assessment of Paley's Natural theology: The Watch Argument

In this section of Archdeacon of Carlisle William Paley's Natural Theology, the author constructs a detailed yet essentially simple and straightforward argument for the existence of God in the form of some primary designer. More specifically, Paley makes an argument against atheism or the belief that there is no such designer for the universe through a lengthy analogy about a watch, or perhaps a series of watches, he imagines might be discovered on the ground. Unlike a stone that can be assumed to have lain on the ground "forever," a watch found on the ground that has specific movements that appear to serve a specific purpose must have come from a creative and purposeful mind that designed the watch; the parts and their purpose could not have coalesced by simple chance the way a stone might tumble to the…

conservative intellectual movement, but also the role of William uckley and William Rusher in the blossoming of the youth conservative movement
Talk about structure of paper, who not strictly chronologically placed (ie hayek before the rest) - in this order for thematic purposes, to enhance the genuiness of the paper (branches of the movement brought up in order of importance to youth conservative revolt) For instance, Hayek had perhaps the greatest impact on the effects of the movement - uckley and Rusher. These individuals, their beliefs, their principles were extremely influential in better understanding the origins, history, and leaders of American conservatism.

Momentous events shape the psyche of an individual as the person matures. A child grows up in poverty vows to never be like his parents, and keeps this inner vow to become a millionaire. A young woman experiences sexual trauma as a teen, and chooses a career that…

evisionist historian often seek to find non-Christian association among the lives of the founding fathers, such as the Freemasons, and Humanism, yet it is clear that these organizations were not dominant to religion and that a strong Protestant ethic still reigned supreme, especially in the language of the foundational documents of the nation.
Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism has in fact created a more recent expression in modern America as churches attempt to "go back to the word" and support the idea that the scripture of the church is divine and unfailing. Though interpretations are varied in this group in general they espouse and return to "family values" via some "golden era" ideals regarding the past.

At its base, fundamentalism was compatible with the religiosity of the people, for both assumed the reality of supernatural power and the prevalence of supernatural forces at work in the world. By stressing such theological notions as…

Theism or Atheism?
When humans consider the existence of God, they tend to look outward for evidence and inward for understanding. Humans must process both types of information through a filter that is based on an unwarranted confidence in human reasoning. Or, failing that, humans must fall back to rely on faith. The nature of faith may perhaps be characterized by an absence of definitive criteria other than the absolutes that are sometimes associated with faith. Consider the parameter suggested by the phrase: "Oh, ye of little faith" (Matthew 8:26). A believer can be described as having faith along a continuum: Great faith, little faith, no faith. However, if-then clauses are not attached to faith. It is generally not regarded as acceptable to claim that one will have faith, if something else -- whatever that concept of else may be. To qualify faith in this way transforms belief into bargaining:…

The children do not see a template of moral fiber in the structure of the family, are certainly not learning it at school, and therefore have no basis for any type of ethic or morals other than the secular humanist -- "it depends" and "if you don't hurt anyone" viewpoint. The secular humanist, though, espouses that there are moral values that can be ascribed without God:
. . . The moral consequences of believing the universe not to be guided by a personal god to whom petitionary prayer can be addressed are huge. That is why it is so inadequate to call oneself solely an atheist; one needs some sort of description for what motivates one's behavior afterwards (Cooke in Kurtz, 2010).

And, reading this, one might forgive Al and Peg if they at least had a moral view; but that is the issue, they do not, which causes the…

Answer to an Atheist

e are mortals and cannot possible know the will of God. God does perform miracles in our lives, if we only stop to pay heed to them. If one takes a bunch of parts and random parts and pieces, gives them to a chimpanzee, and asks them to assemble a car from them, an Atheist would have one believe that eventually they would do it through random chance. There is another similar argument that if you placed 100 monkeys at 100 typewriters they would eventually come up with a Shakespeare play. Just as the Atheist argument claims that there is no proof that God exists because no on has ever seen him, there is also no proof that the monkeys will ever make a car or type Shakespeare. It has never been done and no one has ever proven that it will actually happen. At the…

Allestree indicates that flattery is a form of mental slavery and says that love and friendship are far too valuable to prostitute them. In addition, he believes that flattery is harmful because, by failing to point out a man's flaws, or by transmuting those flaws into assets, one condemns the man to continue in those faults. Furthermore, he points out that flatterers are often treacherous, because their affection ends when the one that they have flattered falls out of favor. In fact, when the formerly adored friend falls out of favor, the flatterers are often the first to point out their faults to those who are coming into favor.
In section nine, Allestree speaks about boasting. Boasting is not limited to people speaking bombastically about themselves, but also includes people who cannot hear talk on any subject without trying to turn that subject towards them. Therefore, it becomes clear that…

Suppressed Evidence
First Case. No. The passenger's motion to suppress the seized evidence should not be granted. An accurate description of the apprehension by the two police officers and the rocks of crack cocaine they confiscated from the passenger's pocket and body are fundamental evidence of illegal drug use. The passenger cannot claim any right to suppress the evidence because the actual substance was found in his personal possession and constitutes direct evidence against him. Moreover, the apprehension happened in a high-crime neighborhood where drug use is inherent or quite likely. y omitting or suppressing the direct evidence and presenting an incomplete or misleading account or description, the police officers or judge will commit obstruction of justice.

The driver was not arrested because no such evidence was found in his personal possession. The woman who leaned into the passenger's window and handed him an object was not arrested, either, because…

If it cannot be effectively proven that God does not exist, then God apparently does exist. In fact, the lack of proof for atheism can be used as direct proof in the existence of God. "It is much easier to be persuaded that ontological arguments are no good than it is to say exactly what is wrong with them," (Oppy).
The apparent manifest multiplicity of the universe is further proof of the necessity of God. "Abstract objects depend on God for their existence, and abstract objects exist in every world; therefore, God exists in every world," (Davidson). The crux of the necessary existence of God theory is that God is most certainly not a being that could have conceivably not existed. The fact that the thought of God exists illuminates the existence of God, and thus, the necessity of God.

Central to the theory of the necessity of God is…

Ethics
Selling ody Parts of Executed Prisoners: Morally Right or Wrong?

On the surface, this seems like a very straightforward question, but, as with all such moral and ethical dilemmas, it is not as simple as it has been made to sound. It would seem that question is asking whether a state can sell the organs and other body parts of an executed prisoner either to recoup some of the money it took to house them (or other seemingly legitimate excuse) or because the body belongs to the state once a person is charged with a capital crime. So, it can be argued, at least by some using a seeming alternative form of logic that this practice can be seen as moral or, at the very least, amoral. The reason people would say that it is an easy question to answer, meaning that they believe that it is immoral to…

Industrial Revolution and Beyond
It is difficult for anyone now alive to appreciate the radical changes that the Industrial Revolution brought to humanity. e imagine that we know what it was like before this shift in economics, in culture, in society: e think of farmers tilling fields and of their children piling hay into stacks for winter forage, or of trappers setting their snares for the soft-pelted animals of the forests, or of fishers casting their hand-woven and hand-knotted nets into the seas from the hand-sewn decks of ships. e imagine the hard physical work that nearly every person in society once had to do in the era before machines substituted their labor for ours -- and this exchange of human (and animal) labor for machine-driven labor is indeed one of the key elements of the Industrial Revolution. But it is only one of the key elements. For with the…

The fact that he believes in the gods differently than some of his neighbors seems to cause them to view his teachings as atheism. In the "Apology," Socrates says: "Some one will say: And are you not ashamed, Socrates, of a course of life which is likely to bring you to an untimely end? To him I may fairly answer: There you are mistaken: a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong, acting the part of a good man or of a bad." This sense of pursuing goodness does not mean that Socrates believes he will necessarily have a better place in the afterlife. However, Socrates believes that to act morally is its own reward, not something that will win him favor in the eyes of…

Philosophy
Socrates has been accused of not recognizing the gods of the state, and also of inventing gods of his own. In fact, this is a two-part accusation. Socrates is first being accused for not believing in the state-sanctioned religion. Of course, it is impossible to know what Socrates does or does not believe. Based on his words, though, it would seem Socrates does actually believe in the gods although may not pay them the kind of respect that the Athenian courts would prefer.

The second part of the accusation is different. Here, the state accuses Socrates of inventing new divinities of his own. Socrates is in fact not starting a new religion and he does not tout the divine authority of any deity. If the accusation is taken collectively, that is, if declaration of guilt or innocence is made on the fulfillment of both these two parts, then Socrates…

Roman view of Christianity
Early Christianity did not develop in isolation, but within a complex landscape already occupied by belief systems, social networks, systems of identity, and political institutions, and it is essential not to regard it 'as somehow independent, as if the church were an entity existing apart from Christians living in particular times and places. Such a treatment neglects how the history of Christianity was influenced and shaped by its cultural environment.'

Foremost among the factors making up that environment was the Roman Empire, itself an amalgam of peoples, creeds and societies. The relationship between Christianity and pagan Rome was a complex and evolving one. This paper will examine Roman hostility to Christianity during this period, and aspects of Roman criticism of Christian belief.

In the earliest period of the Christian church's existence within the Roman Empire, Christians were commonly referred to as troublemakers, offending against Roman order…

devout Catholic peering critically at Southern evangelical Protestant culture, Flannery O'Connor never separates faith and place from her writings. Her upbringing and her life story become inextricably intertwined with her fiction, especially in her short stories. O'Connor was born Mary Flannery O'Connor on March 25, 1925, the only daughter of Regina Cline and Edwin Francis. Having grown up in Savannah and living most of her life in Georgia, Flannery possessed a uniquely disturbing yet reverential perspective on Southern life and culture. Moreover, her Catholic belief and upbringing lent the overtly Biblical symbolism to her stories, many of which twist the sacred into the profane and vice-versa. Flannery, who dropped her first name when she attended the University of Iowa, wrote throughout her entire life, in spite having a debilitating disease called disseminated lupus, which caused her early death in 1964. However, even in her weakest physical conditions, O'Connor discovered the…

Trial?
The Scopes "Monkey Trial" was less about a teacher's violation of an arcane Southern law regarding the teaching of evolution in the classroom and more about the place of Christian culture, doctrine and ethics in the modern world. The trial came down to William Jennings Bryan (who had run for president a quarter century earlier) on the side of Christian culture and the atheist Clarence Darrow as Bryan's political, social and cultural antagonist. While ostensibly there to prosecute and defend John Scopes respectively, the spectacle that the trial quickly became revealed the underlying purpose of the courtroom scene: like the trials at Nuremberg that would come a quarter century later, Scopes was a "show trial," the real meaning of which was a "showdown" between the Old World ideology and the New -- or, in other words, the extent to which the Christian religion had a place in modern America.…

Otherwise, one field risks becoming subordinate to the other; although it's likely that Coyne's theology is extraordinarily sophisticated, the brief excerpt of it that Bill Maher uses leads the viewer to suspect that if these precepts are followed to their logical conclusion, religion will always give way to science as John Paul II gave way to the certainty that organisms evolve over time.
If so, then efforts to restore faith to a more equal footing are naturally vulnerable to claims that they are reactionary attempts to usurp science's rightful and supreme interpretative role in modern life. It is easy to understand Richard Dawkins' profound revulsion over what he sees as resurgent religiosities surrounding Islamic fundamentalism on the one hand and Christian fundamentalisms on the other: These faith-oriented responses to world events pose an implicit challenge to his own conviction that all aspects of experience are the product of physical entities…

Agamemnon claims that he loves Chryseis more than his own wife, but agrees to give her up as long as he gets another prize. hen he demands Briseis from Achilles, it is clear that one sexual being can simply be traded for another in Agamemnon's eyes. Indeed, when Achilles refuses to fight because of Agamemnon's demand, it is not because Achilles deeply loves Briseis, but because he is insulted with Agamemnon's demand. The only redeeming treatment of women in the epic is the Chryses' love for his daughter, determination in getting her back again, and excitement when his request is fulfilled.
hen compared to the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Iliad often seems muted in references to women's sexuality, but it can be argued that the contents of this epic poem show women in a far worse place in society than women in Gilgamesh's epic. hile Gilgamesh's epic presents women as…

The pro-life arguments state that a fetus is in fact a real-life person in the making. Is true there's no supporting scientific evidence for the beginning of personhood, but what if an unborn child has a soul and can actually feel pain? Isn't then artificial abortion a crime? Just because we are not sure, we should take the most radical solution that we can and are allowed to by law?
This is the first solid argument to sustain the moral impermissibility of induced abortion. Because having an abortion equals the death of a life growing inside, as a natural result of unprotected sexual intercourse. It is therefore considered that the new life, the fetus, did not have a choice. And having an artificial abortion furthermore deprives him/her of the right to chose (whether to live or not). So, if it's about the right to chose and the freedom to decide…

McGrath's comments above suggest periods of conceptual adjustment as observers of the Christian faith worked to make explanations for the presence, even the commonality, of sin as it exists in spite of God's innate goodness.
So again, to the idea that Christianity's incredible facets couldn't rationally be reached by outsiders to the faith with some guesswork does not hold up against the process by which we know Christianity came to be. McGrath points out that in this discussion on how best to reconcile sin with God's innate goodness, Christianity was in a place of coming into its own identity. Answering questions such as this quandary on the dualism of good and evil would be very much a part of 'guessing' the structure of Christian faith as it were, but directly within the framework allowed by the basic tenets relating to God, man and the universe.

The text by Lewis demonstrates…

If these countries have a choice of two strategies of development, then Russia is left none. Russian foreign policy was historically based on domination over its neighbors and imperialist model of foreign policy over neighboring countries.
oreigners who visit former Soviet Union countries are often shocked by existing poverty, poor social infrastructure and corruption which erodes society from inside. It may be explained taking into consideration different historical factors: Soviet Union was based on strict dictatorship, where the interests of individual were not taken into consideration. Individual got basic facilities for living: in 1930's it was a great progress as USSR turned into a quickly developing industrial economy from a conservative and outdated agricultural one. ormal equality of all citizens created favorable conditions for unavoidable corruptions which made citizens to exploit their positions illegally in order to improve the living. There is an ethical explanation too: several generations of Soviet…

Master and Margarita by Bulgakov
Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita" is one of the brightest pieces of Soviet literature on the hand with such masterpieces as One day of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Soljenitzin and Quite follows Don by Mikhail Sholohov.

'The Master and Margarita" impresses by the unity of philosophy, religion and satire on Soviet society. "The Master and Margarita" may be also considered as one of the greatest philosophical novels of modern times. Bulgakov touches immortal human problems in the novel: relationships of individual and society on the hand with vales of his contemporaries. Deep philosophical and ethic meaning of the novel is supplemented by bitter irony and witty sarcastic description of Soviet ussian society. Bulgakov's innovation in The Master and Margarita is obvious. Disposing vices and lawlessness of Soviet Moscow he doesn't choose a common method of justice, relying on God and good powers. Instead…

Consumer Society or Capitalism
Consumer society which evolves out of capitalism has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. But even with its disadvantages, consumer society has now become an accepted from of modern society.

Under the pressure of corporate politics, the commercialization of culture and the influence of mass media, the conventional literary values of Western society are deteriorating. For the public in general, the mixing and transformative experiences of culture have been restored by the joint viewing experience and by contribution in consumer trends. (Cronk, Consumerism and the New Capitalism) George Orwell described consumer society as the air we breathe. High worker output and high general levels of consumption typify efficiently improved societies of late 20th century. Though this prosperity is endorsed with making benefits like raised education and health care, it is also linked with much extended work hours, raised lose-lose social rivalry, uneven communities, economic disparity,…

So let's change the interpretation a little bit so that it will be the way we wished it were." Well, that's not what history is. History is what happened, and history ought to be nothing more than the quest to find out what happened. Now, if you want to get into why what happened, that's probably valid too, but why what happened shouldn't have much of anything to do with what happened. (Limbaugh 1994)
The push for the elimination of negative stereotypes, and to encourage the diversification of perspectives through education of our youths is certainly a noble and worthwhile effort. However, there cannot be an absolute answer for all of the problems. Certainly racism, for example, needs to be abolished, and the tone and viewpoints of our educational tools is the perfect place to begin this alteration. However, is it necessarily beneficial to erase all evidence of racism from…

God
Believe About God

Looking at the atheist worldview on believe about God as a myth that people have invented to make them feel better we tend to find out whether it is impossible to have a high moral character without belief in God.

As I was getting settled into my set for a very long plane ride home a was I got to know that the person next to me was a devoted atheist who believed that God is a myth that people have invented to make them feel better, he asked me what I believed about God. Since iam a Christian I believe that God is real, the creation the origin of life and the universe gives me a concrete reason to believe in God instead of seeking real answers. Another thing is the idea of loving God is sweet and the idea that there is eternal life.…

Worldviews
emification Of Worldviews

Mortimer j.Alder an American philosopher an intellect and a person of remarkable wisdom did not believe that education should be determined by social engineering but unchanging standards of truth.

What Alder was trying to say?

Mortimer Alder in his statement "more consequences for thought and action follow affirmation of denial of God than from answering any other basic question" was trying to point out an argument about existence of God, he tries to point out that it is important to understand the issues that surrounds the seriousness of the truth that are made and the amount of evidence required to make conclusions. Since belief in atheism could possibly result in irreparable consequences, therefore the theist should be given chance to produce concrete evidence to support their position. He tried to say that atheism simply evades the test of evidence with their fingers crossed and they hope…

David Foster allace
In his Kenyon College commencement speech, David Foster allace makes the claim that the "real value of a real education…has almost nothing to do with knowledge" (allace, 2008). Instead, allace believes that college education is about training the mind to think, giving students "not the capacity to think, but rather the choice of what to think about" -- or, as he phrases it later in the speech, "learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think." He clarifies this by painting a larger picture of how, in his opinion, the mind works. For allace, the human mind is "hard-wired" for self-centeredness, and he believes virtuous behavior consists in learning how to override the mind's "default setting" and instead redirect the attention to something else. His examples mostly pertain to things that he believes undergraduates have no experience of, like the tedium and "petty frustration"…

Ideals of Fantasy and Reality According to Descarte and Hume
This paper considers what is real and what is fantasy by understanding the ideals of philosophers such as Descarte and Hume. Bibliography cites seven sources.

The reality of croquet and the ever moving hoops

To become like Alice in wonderland, to seek that which only exists in the mind of our imagination is the dream of every person to bring forth what is not real and make it real. The mind is a complex place, by understanding the attitudes and aspects of individuals we are able to understand that the imagination is fuelled by the Will and that the will is fed by the imagination.

When looking at the world as if it was a croquet game in Alice and wonderland we can argue quite easily that life is a mutable role in the ideology of the philosophers, by looking…

Faustus' Acceptance to Eternal Damnation
Many traditions and legends have been created all the way through the long history of western culture. Among which one of the most outstanding and well-known as well long lasting traditions of western culture is of the Faustus legend, where in this legend, a man called Faust or Faustus, sells his soul to the devil for almost twenty-four years for the purpose of worldly power. This makes it a very prominent story that has been narrated many times over by writers such as Goethe, Lessing, and Mann. However, most probably the famous telling is Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.

The social upheaval during the time period is the most prominent influence on Marlowe's version of Doctor Faustus. This novel has been suspected of being first performed in 1594, which was a time of great change in Europe. During this period the Medieval Times were over…

Socrates, "The unexamined life is not worth living (rdg.uk)." It is for this reason that a critical examination of our most fundamental beliefs about truth and reality whether right or wrong becomes an important undertaking (rdg.uk). The examination of major life perspectives challenges as well as helps us to better establish many of our own assumptions about life (rdg.uk). We should all be concerned with how different views of the world clash or fit together, and with how the different perspectives (moral, scientific, religious, metaphysical, and personal) may be reconciled (rdg.uk). It is with these ideas in mind that this paper undertakes an examination of three major life perspectives, those of: naturalism, humanism, and theism (rdg.uk).
According to naturalism, heredity and environment influence and determine human motivation and behavior (naturalism.html). Thus, if an artist wishes to depict life as it really is, he or she must be rigorously deterministic in…

Man ho as Not Shakespeare:
The Comedic and Tragic Life of Christopher Marlowe

One of the most famous and shadowy figures in the history of the Elizabethan stage is that of the playwright Christopher Marlowe. Unlike Shakespeare, whose plays tend to be quite character-driven, Marlowe wrote extremely rhetorical, highly poetical works with elevated language and elaborate feats of stagecraft. Marlowe was a university-educated man with complex ties to the government and politics of the period. In contrast, Shakespeare's father was a glove maker, although politically a fairly prominent member of his community, and Shakespeare never attended university, only the common school of his town. Marlowe's concern with power and society's elite is reflected not only in the language of his plays, but also in terms of his play's subject matter. This is reflected in his most famous works, such as "Dr. Faustus" and "Tamburlaine." Marlowe is often studied as an…

Constructed Myths and Man's Purpose
Since Nietzsche declared that God was dead, science and mankind have begun a twofold search. Nietzsche's declaration asserted that the need for God in the society's constructed identity no longer existed. The understanding of the times was that the scientific method could break down any problem into is components, and uncover both the purpose and the source of all of mankind's desires, tangible and intangible alike. The accompanying hopes for a utopian society would also be ushered in by modern thought. Modern, logical and rational thought would be able to replace oppressive superstition, religious, and myth of ignorant and uneducated people who used religious beliefs to explain those elements of life which previously could not be understood. Since the publishing of his work, along with Jung, Kant and a myriad of others, the social sciences have searched to identify the purpose of religious life within…

eligion
Atheist 2.0 is a short video featuring discussions on remaking atheism. The speaker asks those that do not believe in religion to take their most favorite aspects of different religion and piece them together to create something meaningful using culture as the basis rather than scripture. Atheists who do not rely on religion, but on education cannot really learn true morality from education. They cannot receive proper guidance from universities or that sense of communal support that are so often offered within religion.

Education is viewed as being rational, collecting data. The speaker notes that religion regards people as children, needing all the help they can get. This help, this guidance is typically offered through sermons. Sermons are more valuable than the lecture often seen in education. Sermons are meant to help versus lectures that are meant to provide information. eligious mindsets also call for repetition, which is not…

Fear of death is typically referred to by researchers as death anxiety. The phenomenon has been split into several categories. There is the fear of pain, the fear of the unknown, the fear of losing a loved one, and the fear of the consequences that may arise because of the loss of a loved one. The fear of not being able to survive is the prominent one among these fears. Many people are terrified at the fact that death is the end of one's life. Science does not help matters either. It, instead, aggravates the fear. No aspect of science has ever unveiled any element of the human body that can exist long after death. Thus, most scientists view death as biological process. This is the reason that makes many people still fear the consequences of death; even when they are devout religious believers of life after death (Hanson).
Stoicism,…

1. Using the language of possible worlds, explain what it means to say that ‘p is consistent with q.’ The idea that p is consistent with q is a logical premise that supposes there is a world in which p and q can both be true. This premise contrasts with the premise that p is contradictory of q, which states that if p is true, q must be false and there can be no possible world in which both are true and neither can there be one in which both are false. The idea here is that when p is consistent with q, the world in which such a premise could be true is one in which there may be a conjunctive proposition underlying the concept or there may simply be a nullification of the linguistic theory of necessary truth.
2. What is P.S.R. (The Principle of Sufficient Reason), and…

Generosity is the main characteristic of a Christian society. Along with that, Christians should be obedient to God and respectful toward government. The family would become a matter of great importance. Christians would not live luxurious lives while their brothers suffered. These communities would not support parasites not r would they support extravagant lifestyles. The Christian community is happy, joyful, and worry would not run rampant. Christians are courteous and they enjoy working because they see a greater purpose in life. The also live by the golden rule for the most part. Lewis examines this idea but considering it to its fullest extent. He writes, " may repeat 'Do as you would he done by' till I am black in the face, but I cannot really carry it out till I love my neighbour as myself: and I cannot learn to love my neighbour as myself till I learn to…

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Defenses against it may be equally inconclusive, but in their fertility they at least promise a solution some day.

Bibliography

dams, Marilyn McCord. Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999.

Belliotti, Raymond a. Roman Philosophy and the Good Life. Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2009.

DeRose, Keith. "Plantinga, Presumption, Possibility, and the Problem of Evil," Canadian Journal of Philosophy 21 (1991), 497-512.

Draper, Paul. "Probabilistic rguments from Evil," Religious Studies 28 (1992), 303-17.

Dueck, a.C. Between Jerusalem and thens: Ethical Perspectives on Culture, Religion, and Psychotherapy. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1995.

Ferreira, M. Jamie. "Surrender and Paradox: Imagination in the Leap." In Kierkegaard Contra Contemporary Christendom, edited by Daniel W. Conway, 142-67. New York: Routledge, 2002.

Griffin, David Ray. God, Power, and Evil: Process Theodicy. Louisville: Westminster Press, 2004.

Hick, John. "The 'Vale of Soul-Making' Theodicy." In the Problem of Evil: Reader, edited by Mark…

Sunni Muslims argue that control of the community is not hereditary or a birthright, but a trust that must be earned and therefore can be given or taken away by the people themselves.
Another difference comes in the sanctity of religious texts. Shia Muslims have some resentment to some of the contemporaries of the Prophet Muhammad. This sprouts from their stands and deeds in the historical years of discord about leadership among the Muslim nations. It is said that Abu Bakr, Umar, Aisha, etc. (Sunnis) narrated much about the Prophet Muhammad's life and spiritual encounters, practice and journey. The Shia Muslims reject these Hadith do not take them as a basis for their religious practices. This accordingly informs divergence in religious practice between the Sunnis and Shias. The differences concern aspects of religious life: prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, and so on and so forth. For instance Shi'ites can condense the five…

. This was to lead to the inevitable interaction and cross -- cultural pollination between the cultures. Kline states that; " No wonder that such a large number of Egyptian loan words, phrases and intellectual ideas should be preserved in the Old Testament, along with a large number of idiomatic expressions, and two Egyptian units of measure" (Kline). However, while cultural interaction and the adoption of various phrases and words is not denied by most scholars, what is contested and debated is the extent to which this cultural interaction influenced and impacted the development of the religious foundations of both Judaism and Christianity.
4. How Egypt influenced customs and practices; fact vs. myth

There are numerous examples in the literature that refer to a more extensive cultural intersection and interaction with the Egyptian civilization. One can refer to the view that the name of the Divine Unity in this regard.…

He uses no evidence, his essay is based only on his own opinion, and he does not view the opposition's opinion or their motivation. He writes well, and the points he makes are clear, but his methods and evidence are simply lacking. He is certainly welcome to his opinion, but it does not seem based in reality. Condorcet does not write about the revolution directly, but it is clear he supports the values that the revolutionaries were fighting for, and he mentions several of them, including education, and less distinction between the rich and poor. He does not cite any evidence or analysis either; he is simply expressing his opinion, just as Burke did. He is a good writer too, and gets his points across well, but somehow, his arguments seem more balanced than Burke's, perhaps because they seem more reasonable.
After understanding what the French evolutionaries were trying to…

The utilitarian perspective focuses on the broad impacts of the actions, rather than just how the actions affect specific individuals (Andre & Velasquez, 2010). From the utilitarian perspective, genetic testing has the potential to do great harm to many, and to benefit many. The utilitarian arithmetic points out that the benefits to the companies in utilizing genetic testing is that profits increase. The argument can also be made that wealthier companies provide more jobs and wealthier insurance companies are better able to pay out to those who do receive payments. The counter to the former point is that this employment is theoretical -- not only may it not occur, but it may not occur in the United States. The counter to the latter is that insurance is largely price inelastic, so there is no improvement in coverage likely from handing more profits to insurance companies.
On the harm side, many…

Something that is divine is able to do all and be all. In describing Divinity in terms of who God is, God is Divine because He has perfect power, perfect knowledge, and perfect goodness. He is without flaws.
ho is the Divine God? In the next section, the lesson will cover that God is the Maker of heaven and earth. He is described in Genesis 1:1 as the Creator, in Genesis 18:25 as the Judge, and in Psalms 23:1 as the Shepherd. hat this means is that the Divine God is the Maker of all, the Judge of all, and the Shepherd of all. For a believer, a Divine God serves dual roles in one's life the Judge of His creation, but also as the One who leads and protects them when they seek Him. Ravi Zacharias's comment from the previous section also illustrates the Divinity of God. For example,…

How can we respond to their criticism? Both Freud and Marx were attempting to define something that is not quantitative in a quantitative manner. Faith cannot be measured in dynamic terms, nor can it be universally quantified. We might also point out that there is a clear difference between faith and religion. Faith is a concept, a belief, a trust; religion is manmade, and as any student of history knows, variable over the course of time, society, and individual cultures.

Does faith have a psychological and social value? Based on the very scientific principles of conservation of energy, humans would not be able to conceive or participate in, the concept of faith and religion unless it had elements that were essential to human culture. Just as people have many different tastes in food and clothing, so has history shown us that the same is true for religion? Faith is a…

(Davis, 2003)
Next, researchers corroborated the results of the study with other relevant facts on the subject. To achieve this objective, they would look at a number of different pieces to confirm the underlying effect. A good example of this is when researchers would study the classic piece of literature on human psychology, Man Search for Meaning. In the book, the author (Viktor Frankel) says, "There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one's life" (Davis, 2003) This is significant, because Frankel is saying that humankind can survive some of the most horrific conditions, if they are given a reason to endure. As a result, one could effectively argue that the research and the subsequent examination of the different pieces of literature confirm the effect that religion…

In spite o the accusations of being a misogynist and encouraging the young minds to embrace such theories related to gender stereotypes, Polly and Diggory, the first two children to populate the series, are far from impersonating stereotypes. Polly appears to be a smart and sensitive young girl, wiser to some degree than her friend, Diggory. In opposition to the children who regardless of their gender, seem to share similar degrees of intelligence, courage and common sense, the adults they describe as part of their reality are more likely to express what to some degree could be the result of certain personal convictions of the author in the two fields of gender that are not very flattering for women in general.

Nevertheless, the novels of the Chronicles are valuable, among other things, because of their potential to enchant, keep the reader interested and intrigued all the way up to the…

370).
The most egregious sins that can be committed by a Muslim include to deny the unity of God by ascribing divine status to any person or object. This sin is called shirk. Emphasizing the importance of shirk to Muslim morality, all iconography is strictly forbidden in Islam. Iconography in a mosque, the Muslim place of worship, would be akin to idol worship. The second major sin of Islam is kufr, or atheism.

The religious beliefs of Islam are based around a core set of tenets known as the Five Pillars. The first pillar is the Shahadah: there is only one God, and the prophet Mohammed is God's messenger. At the same time, Islam encourages respect of and unity with "all prophets" of God and "all revealed scriptures," (p. 381).

The Second Pillar is prayer, five times a day. Ritual washing is also integral to Muslim prayer. When praying, the…

Ernie's upbringing has trained him to be prejudiced against and afraid of difference. If Ernie cultivated independent thought he might have reached different conclusions about what Anthony and Cico represent, and how their challenging traditional beliefs may be ultimately a healthy act. It is only because most of the other adults in the town feel threatened by people like Ultima that Ernie and the school children find it easy to ostracize Anthony. Ernie and the other school children view Anthony as an outsider because of differences in language, religion and culture. Their attitudes and actions mirror those of the dominant culture as a whole. Therefore, Anaya presents the school children as a microcosm of American society.
Because he is treated largely as an outcast, Anthony develops a stronger sense of purpose and personal identity. If he had easily conformed to the dominant culture by being accepted by his classmates, Anthony…

It must be recognized that religion in East Asia has had a complex and long history, including its influence upon the law. itual and religion in the region have been much more integrated and for a much longer time in history than has been the case for the Western paradigm. Hence, although the country appears to have adopted the basic paradigms of Western legislation, it is also true that the heart of the region remains in its history, and is likely to be extracted only by time and patience.
Xinping notes that there are two opinions that relate to the religious paradigm as it relates to the Chinese context specifically. The first views religion in the country on a positive and active platform; where religion adapts itself the socialist and contemporary society of the region. eligion is thus easily and actively able to adapt itself to the applicable laws of…

Yes, of course. But Hick too is making an important initial assumption here: He is assuming that a test of human goodness is a necessary part of the universe. But this is only the case if one assumes the presence of a certain type of God -- one that demands that people demonstrate their faith and their ability to make the choices that God wants them to make. If one concurs with this view, then Hick's argument is a sensible and entirely believable one. But if one -- and I do -- rejects this assumption of his, the entire argument falls apart.
Evil exists in the world. This is undeniable. Cruelty also exists, as does simple bad luck. Terrible things happen for many reasons. Both Hume and Hick take the presence of evil in the world as a starting point to discuss the presence or absence of a benign God.…