A library of the best 40 atheist arguments against god. The god delusion, by richard dawkins, is another excellent source of rational arguments against the existence of a religious deity. A digital billboard, sponsored by the american atheists organization, on display in new york. First, this argument is used when a theists of any sort claims that their god is omniprese.
Some reasons why humanists reject the bible american. Even more unfortunately, there are also some genuinely bad ones like the argument from the banana, and some of these are quite. Logical problem of evil internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Dec 30, 2011 what are some arguments against the existence of the god of classical theism aside from the problem of evil suffering. How can you reconcile the existence of so much suffering with the existence of an omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent god. Are there any counter arguments to the claim god does not. There are also some good ones which unfortunately have been used incorrectly so many times that they have been misidentified as bad ones like pascals wager. Alcorn spent years pulling together materials to support his thesis that of course god is good, and that he has a reason for the. The first is essentially the problem of evil that has been defended and attacked since ancient times. Grayling, provides the reader with an excellent modern reference to the most important.
There are a lot of good arguments against atheism like the argument from contingency. The one theology book all atheists really should read news the. William rowe on the argument from evil key concepts. Dawkins because stinkiness is a privation of a good. There is too much evil and suffering for god to exist. Such an assertion of gods infinite stinkiness is an amusing bit of rhetoric, but it does not in the least follow logically from the given philosophical. For gods existence to be compatible with the evil in the world, there would have to be no occurrence of evil that is gratuitous and beyond justification. What are some arguments against the existence of the god of classical theism aside from the problem of evilsuffering. If god is allpowerful, allknowing and perfectly good, why does he let so many bad things happen. Arguments against gods existence backyard skeptics. A compelling new work makes the case that most modern arguments against belief are attacking the wrong god. They believe that because the writers of the bible lived in an unenlightened era, the book contains many errors and harmful. Recent years have seen several books attacking christianity, and much of the arguments against the existence of god are based upon the presence of evil and suffering within the world. If there were an omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent god then there wouldnt be any evil, but there is evil, and there therefore cant be an omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent god.
This is unlike logical arguments from evil which claim that evil and god are logically incompatible with each other. As an atheist, who grew up in a fundamentalist christian society a few decades ago, i know that the christian argument. If you think this god astheconditionofexistence argument is rubbish, you need to say why. This is by far the most important argument for the conclusion that god does not exist. Here we present five arguments in favor of the existence of god, and the counterargument for it. The aim of at least the simplest form of this argument is to show that the existence of evil in the world shows that god does not exist. But of the claim that a god exists includes that he presents supernatural events to us constantly, then one can, by proxy, have an argument proving that god does not exist because of his inactions. In this sense, the argument from evil is the opposite of the design argument.
The best books on the existence of god five books the. Religious topics abound on listverse and they are frequently the most commented upon. Feel free to comment on the veracity or your opinion of each but remember to. The case against the book of first enoch a modern guide. For an atheist, harriss arguments are crystal clear, but you have to look at this from a christian perspective. The god delusion is a 2006 book by english biologist richard dawkins, a professorial fellow at new college, oxford, and former holder of the charles simonyi chair for the public understanding of science at the university of oxford.
When i ponder both the extent and depth of suffering in the world, whether due. In his work titled arguments ruminations from evil, william rowe presents an argument against the existence of god that had been captured in two succinct premises, namely. The problem of evil argues in one direction, from the existence of evil to the nonexistence of god. Smiths major focus is on the existence of god question. Probably, there is pointless suffering in the world. Debunking one of the worst arguments against atheism. Transcendence spaceless, timeless, nonphysical omnipotence can do anything it is logically possible to do and is consistent with god s moral nature omniscience knows everything it is logically possible to know omnipresence at. Transcendence spaceless, timeless, nonphysical omnipotence can do anything it is logically possible to do and is consistent with gods moral nature omniscience knows everything it is logically. Rowe calls this the evidential argument from evil, because, rather than the mere presence of evil making it impossible that god exists i. Arguments for and against the existence god are like arguments for and against the existence of hunger. This is a thread for listingexplaining arguments and not a thread fortheists and atheists to arguerebuttals to the atheist arguments insulting a particular theist or religion you simply put your argument forward and explain it. And unlike for the superhero version, scientific evidence wont clinch the deal. What are the most powerful arguments for the existence of god. Apr 03, 2018 markos rightly points out the importance of miracles for a christian worldview and finds arguments against them wanting.
The evidential argument argues that suffering, if sound, provides good grounds for thinking god does not exist. Jan 14, 2014 what if most modern arguments against religious belief have been attacking the wrong god all along. Mar 04, 2010 arguments for and against the existence god are like arguments for and against the existence of hunger. Our evaluation of this book is done with some limitations. Two arguments for the nonexistence of god theodore m. A misunderstanding of gods creation the last broad issue found on the web site is a misunderstanding of gods creation, which manifests itself most in the problem of borrowing from the christian moral worldview to carry out its arguments against god and the bible instead of using its own. So far, weve been talking about arguments for the existence of god. The problem of evil, in the context of karma, has been long discussed in indian religions including buddhism, hinduism and jainism, both in its theistic and nontheistic schools. But it seems that the problem of evil in its various forms is the most prominent argument against gods existence.
The concept of evil stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Second, the argument against the existence of god from the existence of evil is by the authors own admission not treated in depth. As hunger is a deeply felt physicalphysiological state, the need for god is a deeply felt spiritualmental state. Pardi contends, however, that there are good reasons to deny that this inference goes through. In addition to researching arguments in favor of atheism, investigate the rebuttals or justifications from the religious perspective. This however is not an argument against the existence of gods. The problem with the problem of evil is that if god does not exist, there can be no real evil to object to. Evil in the broad sense has been divided into two categories. Moreover, he argues that the kind of omnipotence and omniscience that theists ascribe to god is incoherent, and defends both evidential and logical arguments from evil against the existence of god. I readily admit to ignoring this debate, and taking for granted here a stance of basic christian theism, and i make no apologies for this. How to argue that god does not exist with pictures wikihow. While one can simultaneously believe in darwinian evolution and in god, evolution is more likely in a godless world.
Moral arguments for gods existence form a diverse family of arguments that reason from some feature of morality or the moral life to the existence of god, usually understood as a morally good creator of the universe. Evidential arguments from evil can come in different forms. Arguments for god that are arguments against god bradley. If god is good by randy alcorn is a stunning must read. Its been argued that god doesnt exist because there is so much evil in the world. Markos rightly points out the importance of miracles for a christian worldview and finds arguments against them wanting.
Three minutes and 15 seconds into his opening speech, he stated that one reason he believes god does not exist is because there are no good replies to the arguments against the existence of god, such as the problem of evil. They believe that because the writers of the bible lived in an unenlightened era, the book contains many errors and harmful teachings. He addresses everything from the ontological argument to the finetuning argument, demolishing all of the main arguments for god s existence. Contrary to popular belief, the problem of evil is not a good argument against god. Why horrible suffering does not disprove gods existence. Sommer introduction humanists reject the claim that the bible is the word of god. The problem of evil contests the existence of a god who is both omnipotent and omnibenevolent by arguing that such a god should not permit the existence of evil or suffering. Some say that one cannot prove that god doesnt exist because one cannot prove a negative hypothesis. The existence of god is a subject of debate in the philosophy of religion and popular culture a wide variety of arguments for and against the existence of god can be categorized as metaphysical, logical, empirical, or subjective. The problem of evil popular writings reasonable faith. In nonbelief and evil, theodore drange presents what he calls the argument from nonbelief against the existence of god. Arguments against the existence of god overview each of the arguments below aims to show that a particular set of gods does not existby demonstrating them to be inherently meaningless, contradictory, or at odds with known scientific or historical factsor that there is insufficient proof to say that they do exist. Variants of the cosmological and technological arguments are critically evaluated, but the ontological argument and other arguments for the existence of god are not considered.
It is an argument against the existence of an omnipotent and omnibenevolent god. We cannot say by the way that god is a preeminently peerless stinkercontrary to the charge of dr. It has been some time since the last one so it seems like the time is ripe for another and this one is a great one for discussion. A writer cannot make an issue simpler than it really is. The word of yhwh came to jonah commanding him to go to the great city of nineveh in order to cry against it because god had seen its evil 1. The problem of evil is certainly the greatest obstacle to belief in the existence of god. If god exists, then god eliminates as much evil as god can. Being, consciousness, bliss, and although i havent yet read it believe me, i will, and have ordered it, i posted a critique of damon linkers blurb for. Hume on religion stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. If god is all good, then he will want and will stop all those evils from happening.
Feel free to comment on the veracity or your opinion of each but. Being, consciousness, bliss, and although i havent yet read it believe me, i will, and have ordered it, i. Humanists reject the claim that the bible is the word of god. Rowes version of the problem of evil proceeds as follows. Why is the problem of evil being used as an argument against god.
Five rational arguments why god very probably exists. Starting with jobs reaction to evil, i identify three elements of joblike belief. Arguments for god that are arguments against god march 3. Yhwh told jonah to go to the great 4 city of nineveh 5, and to cry against it because their wickedness has come up. The one theology book all atheists really should read news. The word of yhwh came to jonah 2 the son of amittai 3 1. And most counterarguments that i have seen do not engage this discussion.
Aug 21, 2015 rowe calls this the evidential argument from evil, because, rather than the mere presence of evil making it impossible that god exists i. Natural evils are bad states of affairs which do not result. I find this to be an important distinction to make because too many of us dont know the point of those ideas. Nov 18, 2016 the evidential argument argues that suffering, if sound, provides good grounds for thinking god does not exist. The case against the book of first enoch a modern guide to. Most of the book develops and defends two arguments against the existence of god. Voltaire and his evidential argument from evil philosophy. In philosophical terms, the question of the existence of god involves the disciplines of epistemology the nature and scope of knowledge and. The god delusion is a 2006 book by english biologist richard dawkins, a professorial fellow at new college, oxford, and former holder of the charles simonyi chair for the public understanding of science at the university of oxford in the god delusion, dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that belief in a personal god qualifies as a delusion. Although many atheists claim the presence of moral evil precludes the existence of god, others admit that god would be completely justified in allowing moral evil. The god argument is a very respectful, thoughtprovoking and accessible book that addresses the case against religion while making the compelling case for a superior ethical way of living, humanism. Moral arguments are both important and interesting.
If god is omniscent, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent then there shouldnt be any evil around if god does in fact exist. What one has here, however, is not just a puzzle, since the question can, of course, be recast as an argument for the nonexistence of god. The case against the book of first enoch hi im guy malone and im paradox brown and we are both known in the past as proponents, to one extent or another, of the book of 1st enoch, and of accepting it as probably inspired by god, and to some extent possibly useful for doctrine. Twelve good arguments atheists advance against christianity. What if most modern arguments against religious belief have been attacking the wrong god all along. The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient god. Feb 11, 2020 god is not great, by christopher hitchens, for instance, is a good place to start. The problem of evil stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. They are interesting because evaluating their soundness requires attention. Thats the kind of argument that an atheist would have to develop in order to get the problem of evil off the ground as an objection to theism. This is a thread for listingexplaining arguments and not a thread fortheists and atheists to arguerebuttals to the atheist argumentsinsulting a particular theist or religion you simply put your argument forward and explain it. The one theology book all atheists really should read.
They are convinced the book was written solely by humans in an ignorant, superstitious, and cruel age. If god is all powerful, then god can stop those evils from happening. The case against god 5 although this book is intended primarily for laymen, it is impossible to avoid some degree of technicality due to the complexity of many religious doctrines. Your next book is the reality of god and the problem of evil by brian davies.
On february 12, 2009, in a debate with kyle butt, dan barker affirmed the proposition that the god of the bible does not exist. In his discussion of natural theology arguments to prove the existence of god and natural atheology arguments for the falsehood of theistic belief plantinga focuses on two of the traditional arguments. The existence of such evil gives us good grounds to doubt the existence of god or to deny god s existence, even though it doesnt count as a strict proof. God is not great, by christopher hitchens, for instance, is a good place to start. The arsenal it attempts to use to prove its assertions is one common to many other atheist web sites and publications.
The best books on the existence of god ed feser on five. Why is the problem of evil being used as an argument. He also has a section on the good, the true, and the beautiful. Examines both the logical and probabilistic arguments against god from suffering and evil.