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On The Existence Of God

   

Added on  2020-05-08

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ON BEING AN ATHEISTOn Being An AtheistName of the studentName of the UniversityAuthor note

1ON BEING AN ATHEISTIn his famous article “On Being An Atheist” written by McCloskey he takes a stance againstthe existence of God. He offered many reasons including the problem with evil to show thatone should never believe in the concept of God. He believes that atheism offers a comfortablebelief that opposes believing in God who allows the sufferings to be perpetrated on innocentpeople. Atheism was conceived of by a sensitive person hence it leads to self-respect.In theend, he states that in order to live in this world a person should find solace wherever he findsit. He feels that since the world created by him is imperfect hence He cannot be deemed asperfect. In his words, since evil exists hence God cannot be there and hence we should acceptthe state of this world. According to Mc Closkey, the arguments act as proofs. On the basis of this, he reaches theconclusion that God exists. When he refers to the arguments as “proofs”, it means that thearguments have scientific factualness. A proof is a factual statement that has an end product.The cosmological along with design arguments do not point forward to the existence of Godbut they offer arguments that proves the existence of God. The arguments offer explanationof the existence of God. McCloskey hence is denying the possibility to think of the existenceof God as he takes the arguments of the theist and offers them as proofs (Ryan, 2015). Onthe basis of Foreman’s presentation, “Approaching the Question of God’s Existence”, it canbe argued that McCloskey is interpreting the cosmological and the design arguments ina waythat was not done before.On the Cosmological ArgumentThe first argument that McCloskey wants to disbar revolves around the cosmologicalargument. It argues that the existence of God is sure because there must be a creator of theuniverse that can be either a being or a thing. According to McCloskey, existence of universeis not sufficient in order to validate the existence of God. In order to counteract the claim of

2ON BEING AN ATHEISTMcCloskey, non-temporal form of cosmological argument can be made use of. According toEvans and Manis in his book “Philosophy of Religion”, the claims of non-temporal form canprovide the answer. According to Evans and Manis, there is the existence of both “necessarybeings” along with that of “contingent beings”. A contingent being is something that can beseen in the universe that can prove it’s existence but the existence is not a necessity and itdepends upon something else. A necessary being exists without requiring any validation andit provides the source from where contingent beings come (Zewde, 2015). The contingentbeing can be the world and the necessary being can be God. On the basis of this logic, Godexists because the world also exists. Refuting McCloskey, the world around him exist andthere is an ultimate creator which according to cosmological argument is God.According to McCloskey, the cosmological argument does not give the right to assert an all-powerful, uncaused cause. The cosmological argument states that contingent beings stemsforward from necessary being and the world relies on a creator for existing that is God.Cosmological argument by mere surface value cannot be solely used supporting existence ofGod. In the words of Evans and Manis, cosmological argument cannot provide a substantiateproof of knowledge in relation to God. Cosmological argument provides the base forexistence of God and support of argument can stem from knowledge of God (Peterson, 2013).On the Teleological ArgumentMcCloskey addresses the teleological argument that is also known as argument from design.According to this argument, order can be seen in the universe and hence there must be thepresence of an intelligent creator in terms of argument from design. God acts as theintelligent designer on account of the order that is seen to exist in the universe. McCloskeyfeels that in order to get proof examples that are indisputable and genuine is a necessity. Heclaims that no indisputable examples are there and hence the argument does not hold much

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