Exam 3: God

The aesthetic solution to the problem of evil urges us to view God as a kind of "cosmic artist."   This view is most consistent with

One of David Hume's criticisms of the design argument is that, even if the world was designed, it might be the work of an inferior deity and is the object of derision to his superiors.

Because of his belief in God's transcendence, the Protestant reformer, Martin Luther wanted the church to serve as an intermediary between the individual and God.

What does Karl Marx mean when he says that "religion is the opium of the people?"

According to the "least of the evils" position,

Leibniz's belief that "this is the best of all possible worlds" implies that evil does not exist.

For Kierkegaard, believing in God is not just a matter of intellectually accepting the proposition that God exists.

Suppose that Anne believes in God, but like Voltaire, she has a deist conception of God. What then does Anne believe about God?

Anselm's ontological argument starts off with a single stated assumption, that one has a concept of God, an infinite and most perfect being.

The appearance of the Virgen de Guadalupe to a poor Indian named Juan Diego at the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City is an example of

The theologian Paul Tillich said that

Nietzsche said of Christianity that

The Christian conception of the incarnation of God as human, and the idea of a Holy Spirit that infuses us all, both assume

The problem of evil can be stated as follows: If there is evil in the world, then either God can't do anything about it, God doesn't know about it, or God doesn't care about it.

What, precisely, is the problem of evil? Give two examples of events (real or fictional)that might raise this problem for religious believers. One should involve nonmoral evil, and the other should involve moral evil. Be careful to explain how these two kinds of evil are different. Draw on three of the theodicies, or solutions to the problem of evil, developed in this chapter, and show how they address this problem. How does each solution meet, or fail to meet, the challenge of explaining both kinds of evil?   Which of these theodicies is the most convincing, and which is the least convincing, and why?

The seventeenth-century Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza insisted

Write an essay developing a philosophy of religious tolerance. Your essay should start with the discussion of tolerance in Chapter 3. How is tolerance linked with the fact that we can't know whether our religious conceptions are true?   Why doesn't this imply giving up our beliefs in the truth of these conceptions? How is tolerance possible, if not on the basis of belief?   What is your personal philosophy of tolerance? How do experience and deal with different religious faiths in your life?

Define and give two examples of a  theodicy.

Some Buddhists would say that the idea of a God separate from the universe makes no sense at all.

According to Buddhism,