231
votes
How can one not believe in god as the root cause of the universe?
The alternative between existence and non-existence of a creator god cannot be decided by the argument of the first cause.
Whoever argues that a first cause is needed and that this first cause is god,...
- 34.6k
188
votes
How can one not believe in god as the root cause of the universe?
The most compelling argument I've heard in this vein is that the existence of God just adds an extra step.
As Jo Wehler has pointed out, claiming God is the first cause raises the question: "What is ...
- 1,839
121
votes
How can one not believe in god as the root cause of the universe?
God here I defined as prime cause.
If you simply define god as the prime cause, then that is simply word-play. You obviously understand that the vast majority of people do not use the word 'god' ...
- 3,109
93
votes
Asserting that Atheism and Theism are both faith based positions
We must draw a distinction between atheism and agnosticism. Atheism is not believing in the existence of a God (or Gods), regardless of whether conclusive evidence is available, while agnosticism is ...
- 785
82
votes
How can one not believe in god as the root cause of the universe?
What is "nothing"?
This is Argument From First Cause. This exists in several variants...
Kalām
Plato/Aristotle
Thomas Aquinas
The short rebuttal to this is: what is "nothing"? We ...
- 5,229
73
votes
Asserting that Atheism and Theism are both faith based positions
No, atheism is not a faith based position. This has been debunked time and time again and there are numerous resources on the internet that cover this error in logic. If theism claims the existance of ...
- 1,154
45
votes
How can one not believe in god as the root cause of the universe?
There are a few different ways to show that this argument doesn't necessarily lead to the idea of a god.
Special pleading: You get to claim that everything must have a cause...except a god. But, a) ...
- 1,614
42
votes
Why is Dawkins not respected amongst philosophers?
Because he often indulges in rhetoric/polemic rather than truth-seeking discussion. If you strongly imply that your opponents are "delusional" (e.g. in the title of a book) then you put ...
- 3,045
42
votes
Can God transcend human logic and reasoning?
Short answer: it's just a special pleading. So the answer is no.
Long answer: apophatic theology is nothing more than an elaborate exercise in intellectual cowardice. It's a clever trick employed by ...
- 2,040
36
votes
Is the surprising applicability of mathematics to the physical world a brute fact, or something crying out for a theistic explanation?
Reality existed.
Math was invented, partly to describe and predict reality, a useful tool.
Calculus specifically is an example...
Isaac Newton (1642–1727) is best known for having invented the
...
- 1,680
35
votes
Asserting that Atheism and Theism are both faith based positions
The only requirement of meeting the definition of "atheist" is that you do not have belief in any god(s). Computers, rocks, and newborn babies are all, by definition, atheists; because they do not ...
- 375
34
votes
Is Andalusi/Rasmussen's proof for the existence of God correct?
As the argument is presented here, as a proof for the existence of God, the possible fallacies are:
Begging the question - assuming the conclusion
When one of the premises is "God is unlimited&...
- 10.9k
31
votes
Using Special Pleading to invalidate first-cause argument regarding existence of God
If I correctly understand your question, you ask: Why do people, who are not satisfied with introducing a creator god as first cause, demand a cause of this creator god?
IMO that's obvious: If ...
- 34.6k
28
votes
Accepted
Term for people who believe God once existed but then disappeared?
"Theothanatologists" - For more information see Wikipedia.
The Death of God movement is sometimes technically referred to as
theothanatology, deriving from the Greek theos (God) and ...
- 6,284
26
votes
How can one not believe in god as the root cause of the universe?
In addition to the excellent answers given, a physicist would have problems with the following.
There ought to be cause(s) to this singularity, and cause(s) to that cause(s).
This takes causality ...
- 783
26
votes
Asserting that Atheism and Theism are both faith based positions
Both positions, the theist and the atheist made a claim: The theist claimed the existence of god, the atheist claimed the non-existence of god. History shows: Neither of them could prove his claim.
...
- 34.6k
24
votes
Isn't the knowledge of the non-existence of "God", objective?
Atheist conceptions of the idea of God often rest on a straw man fallacy that portrays a theistic view of God as Russell's teapot or as the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Both of these conceptions view God ...
- 19.5k
24
votes
Asserting that Atheism and Theism are both faith based positions
Alvin Plantinga, a Christian philosopher, presents a similar question regarding an extreme form of atheism that he calls "naturalism". Rather than asking whether the atheism of naturalism is faith-...
- 19.5k
24
votes
Accepted
Is the surprising applicability of mathematics to the physical world a brute fact, or something crying out for a theistic explanation?
The biggest issue seems to be that Craig implies that mathematics is entirely disconnected from the physical world. But maths emerged from our understanding of physical world. We saw that when you put ...
- 10.9k
20
votes
Accepted
Could Occam's Razor ever favor theism?
My two cents.
As @Conifold eloquently mentions, Occam's Razor is somewhat vague and notions of complexity somewhat arbitrary, so that given suitable criteria of complexity and simplicity almost ...
- 2,931
20
votes
Can God transcend human logic and reasoning?
The problem with the apophatic view is not so much a lack of coherence as a lack of meaning. By definition, it puts itself beyond criticism by placing its subject outside the sphere of human ...
- 24.5k
19
votes
How can one not believe in god as the root cause of the universe?
If the notions of actual or potential infinity are coherent, why is the notion of an infinite series of causes not also coherent ? The series of prime numbers is infinite - why not the series of ...
- 35.8k
19
votes
Is Andalusi/Rasmussen's proof for the existence of God correct?
I would submit the broad, provocative claim that no logical proof of existence can be convincing, because "proof" assumes logic, but logic does not in and of itself talk about what actually ...
- 2,473
18
votes
Where in the evolutionary chain did morality start to evolve?
First of all, I'm removing the references to evolution as this has been removed from the OP. The rest of this answer should directly address the relationship between the evolution of the brain, social ...
- 1,527
18
votes
How can one not believe in god as the root cause of the universe?
How can you lack belief in the existence of god.
Simple - "X believes in god" is a statement/predicate about human X.
For a non-believer, the state of believing in god is exactly as ...
- 3,044
18
votes
Isn't the knowledge of the non-existence of "God", objective?
Whether or not God exists is an objective question with an objective answer, however the argument beginning
Is it true that "X" exists in reality only when we are aware of having experienced it, or ...
- 792
18
votes
Term for people who believe God once existed but then disappeared?
What you describe is view of some deists who see God as observing humanity but not directly intervening in our lives - for more information see Wikipedia.
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18
votes
Why can’t God just be replaced by a naturalistic alternative and end the god debate?
Because some people already believe in God
For someone who already believes in God, then God doing or having done something is the simplest explanation.
Suppose that you don't know why the sun rises ...
- 613
17
votes
Is watching an amputated limb regrow proof of the supernatural?
Logically, if we could prove that God healed amputees then it would as a corollary prove the existence of God. (it is simply the argument that; "if X is specifically observed to do Y, then X must ...
- 2,582
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