Arguments against the Existence of God

Arguments against the Existence of God

1. Projection Atheism

   • Religion is created by man to fulfil a human desire or purpose

2. Materialism

   • Nothing exists but the empirical world

3. Psycological Critiques

   • Freud
     • Religion is just a way to overcome inner conflict
       • famous examples of this include the primal horde theory and Oedipus compex)   
     • Need for a father figure
     • Religion was necessary for developing world, to restrain violent impulses. In modern society, this can be put away for reason and science
   • Carl Jung
     • The 'collective unconcious' of humanity projects the 'archetype' of Hero - in the form of an anthropomorphisesed God

4. Sociological Critiques

   • Marx
     • Religion must be abolished as the illusory happiness of people so that a true happiness can be realised. Men will then control society and thus not be controlled by it
     • Religion is used to oppress the poor - for example the Divine Order of Being places the rich as closer to God.
       • 'the opium of the people'
   • Nietzche
     • Religion is a way of giving the oppressed strength in face of their oppressors.
       • Christian faith amongst Black groups in America
   • Durkheim
     • [Religion is] a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things…beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all who adhere to them
     • Life is in tension between the sacred and the profane (everyday)
     • while religion can be seen as a positive force, it nevertheless is motivated by society and not the religious truths themselves

5. Dawkins

   • Religion teaches you to be satisfied with not understanding the world. Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institution
     • Young Earth Creationism as 40% of American belief.
   • Faith is the great cop out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence
   • Colorado Hell House - religion is used to suppress and oppress. Anti-gay propaganda and Pro-Life extreamism

6. Evidentialism

   • W. K. Clifford "It is wrong, always, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence"
   • Antony Flew - The Onus of proof is on the believer to justify their claims, since the purpose of philosophy is knowledge and they are making 'unfalsifiable claims'
   • Bertrand Russell's teapot
   • Alisdair McGrath - "The capacity of science to explain itself requires an explaination"
   • Alvin Plantinga - reformed epistomology, God is a basic belief, which does not need to be inferred. "Belief making tools" of humanity shows we were "made to have a belief"