ATHEISM & AGNOSTICISM HUMANISM - KS3 The aims of this presentation are: to explain what atheism and agnosticism are and to examine some of the reasons why Humanists and other atheists and agnostics have doubts about the supernatural claims of religions.

What do atheists and agnostics believe? The Big Question What do atheists and agnostics believe? Ask the students if they already know what these terms mean. After a brief discussion, provide some definitions, e.g: Atheism: the belief that there is no God. Agnosticism: the belief that one cannot know whether there is a God or not. Explain that Theism refers to belief in God; often in One Creator God, especially for Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs and many others. But who or what is ‘God’? Get some quick responses from students on what they think is meant by ‘God’. Above us – only sky?

Why is God said to be Invisible? You can’t see the FIRST CAUSE of everything! Only an invisible God could answer my prayers! If you could SEE God, it wouldn’t be God! Life is a TEST – you must have FAITH that God is there! Show students this slide and ask them about evidence for God’s existence. Is it true, for example, that the only evidence for God’s existence is in ancient writings by persons unknown? What other evidence do believers in God use to support their case? Present the students with some thoughts to respond to, e.g. some people say that they EXPERIENCE the presence of God in their lives, perhaps through answers to their prayers; some people say there must be a FIRST CAUSE of everything and that must be God; some people say that if you could SEE God, then that would not be God; some people say that if you could prove the existence of God, there would be no need for FAITH: life is a TEST, and belief in God is part of that test. What do students make of these arguments? Can they think of other reasons for belief in God? Point out some humanist responses such as: Religious experiences: strange experiences have a natural explanation, there is no reason to assume a supernatural cause. First cause: perhaps the universe has existed forever - If everything has a cause, what caused the cause of the universe? If it does not need a cause, then perhaps the universe does not either. Faith: a humanist requires evidence before believing in something. In conclusion, none of the arguments for the existence of a god are persuasive enough for humanists (many of the arguments do not persuade religious people either), they see no reason to believe. For many humanists, the more important question is not whether you believe in a god or not, but how you choose to live your life.

Acts of God? Explain to students that many people who are atheists or agnostics believe that God is an invention of the human mind and that God is no longer needed to explain the way the world is. In 1802, William Paley argued that, rather like a watch must have had a designer, so the natural world contains such complex living organisms, that it too must have had an intelligent creator. For non-believers, such complex aspects of life can be explained by evolutionary forces, by ‘natural selection’ and the ‘survival of the fittest’. Atheists also point to examples of ‘poor design’ in human beings, such as the blind spot in our eyes or the appendix. Or again, people still speak about natural disasters as ‘acts of God’, but for non-believers, modern geology, meteorology and astronomy can provide the reasons such events take place. Other people believe in God because of Holy Scriptures: the Bible, Qur’an, Guru Granth Sahib, Bhagavad-Gita and so on. They may say that without God, people will have no sense of morality: if you don’t believe in God, why bother to be a good person? Some people who think you can be ‘good’ without God join ‘humanist’ organisations, associations and networks, such as the British Humanist Association: Stephen Fry (Slide 5) is a member. Ask the students to consider to discuss in pairs how far they think science has replaced ‘God’ as an explanation for the way things are.

What if you MET God? Why did you not make your existence clear to living people? Ask the students if they recognise the people in this slide. Top right is Bertrand Russell, and bottom left is Stephen Fry. Encourage the students to find out who they are and what they believe about God. Explain that these are the answers they gave to the question, what would you say if you met God? Point out that Stephen Fry's answer refers to 'the problem of evil’. Many humanists accept the existence of things like childhood cancer do not PROVE there is no omnipotent, benevolent god, but they may feel it makes one incredibly UNLIKELY. Russell's comment suggests that the burden of proof is on the believer in God. Why should anyone believe when the evidence is at best ambiguous? Ask the students for their views of these statements. What might THEY say? Why did you create childhood cancer?

Only Human? Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”  “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [Genesis 3: 1-5] Remind the students that in this introduction to the ideas of atheism and they have been thinking about alternatives to religious belief, such as humanism. Some religious people describe themselves as humanists too, so we need to distinguish between religious and non-religious humanists. Those that do not believe in God can have different ways of interpreting religious scriptures. Ask the students to consider the passage from the Bible on this slide and to imagine three non-religious humanists as described below. Explain that this text comes from the story of creation in the book of Genesis and describes how the serpent tempted Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Humanist A thinks that this text belongs to a previous age when people didn’t understand science. Humanist B thinks that this text is like poetry. It tells us something about human nature but isn't something that really happened. Humanist C thinks that this text is an important part of our history and heritage. Encourage the students to work in groups of three and for each to take a different role as one of the Humanists: how might each one interpret the text? Each should try to persuade the others that they have the best understanding of the text. What does each character mean by the word ‘God’? Where do their interpretations of the text agree and where do they differ.. and why? After some discussion, ask the students to say which characters were more like atheists and which more like agnostics. How did their interpretations differ, if at all, from what religious believers might say? By the end of this activity, students should be able to suggest reasons for similar and different interpretations of scriptures.

What do atheists and agnostics believe? The Big Question What do atheists and agnostics believe? Remind the students that understanding atheism and agnosticism requires an understanding of what might be meant by ‘God’. Encourage them to investigate further what believers and non-believers say about God. For example, many believers say that ‘God is Love’; is that a ‘God’ that even atheists could believe in? Why / Why not? Is the statement ‘God is love’ the same as saying ‘Love is God’? What might the difference be? Some believers say that God is in everyone and everything. What might that mean to atheists and agnostics? Other believers say that God can perform ‘miracles’ and can speak about miracles that have happened to them or their friends and relations. What might explain such occurrences? Many believers say that God will be the judge of everyone’s life and that people will end up in ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’. What might atheists and agnostics make of such claims? Who, or what, is ‘God’?