1. Reasons for doubting the existence of God
Theist Believes in God
Atheist – There is no God
Agnostic – Don’t know if there is a God

2. The Medieval and Renaissance world view
500 CE – 1600 CE
A few thousand years ago God created the World and human beings in a pretty short period of time
God, or other heavenly powers, directly controls natural and heavenly phenomena

3. The Enlightenment 1600-1800 CE The Rise of Modern science
Scientific thinking replaces supernatural causes (demons, gods, witches, etc) with natural ones (weather patterns, gravity, germs)
A move from pre-scientific to scientific thought: two examples a) witches, b) vampires

4. Pre-modern thinking

5. Physics ….. Biology
Newton 1687
Darwin 1859

6. Darwin’s theory of Evolution
Theory: All living things on this earth evolved from one single common ancestor. And they evolved through a process of natural selection

7. Argument for Darwin’s theory
Organisms reproduce and their reproductions differ a little bit from them (mutation)
Some mutations are advantageous in the environment an organism finds itself in, some are not.
The organisms with an advantage pass on their traits, the one’s without an advantage die off
Eventually the changes are big enough that we have a brand new species

8. The Science Argument
P1: God is an explanation for the existence of our world P2: But science can now explain everything in our world with purely natural mechanical explanations P3: So (From P1 + P2) God is not needed to explain to our world P4: We should not use unnecessary explanations C: We should not use God as an explanation for our world

9. Possible responses to the science argument
Deny the science
Resort to the “God of the Gaps”
Belief in God is not about an explanation for why things exist, but about experiences of God

10. The Problem of Evil (Pain & Suffering)
P1: God is said to be all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly loving and good
P2: God must know about all pain suffering
P3: God could prevent all pain and suffering
P4: God would want to prevent all pain and suffering
P5: There is a ton of pain and suffering
C: There is probably no God

11. Responses to the problem of evil
God has a good reason for allowing all this pain and suffering.
here’s the reason (theodicy)
There must be a reason but I don’t know what it is
God influences the world and people in it. God strives to bring about good things, but there are limits to God’s power; there are things God just can’t stop.