Philosophy of religion

Thomas Paine was an extraordinaire to the world of philosophy and political theory during the Age of Enlightenment era. This age is characterized by the public’s strong faith and their usage of logic and reason within religion, also known as Deism. Thus so, Paine utilizes the significance of religion to the public in a logical way in order to convey his argument in his pamphlet Common Sense. He advocates for independence from England and the removal of monarchical government, believing it to be…

There is a common understanding that science and religion interfere with one another. There is a tension that cuts the two in half making them opposites that are unable to reside together. Peter Lipton believes that this doesn’t have to be the case; people can live in both the world of religion and the world of science by using his “Immersion solution.” I believe that his solution has flaws that make it incapable of working on the average person thus, I do not find his idea favorable or even…

Can evil exist without good? Evil cannot exist without good because they are the structure of humanity and existence. Good and evil coexist together, and if you simply get rid of one you also take away the other. If there was only good, and no evil, it would not necessarily be considered good. Society would just view it as normal because there would be nothing to compare our actions to. The world is all about opposites. For instance, yin and yang (dark and light), one cannot exist without the…

also argued that obligating them to provide contraceptives to their employees violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The RFRA was enacted in 1993 and requires that the government not hinder an individual’s freedom to exercise their religion unless “doing so is the least restrictive way to advance a compelling government interest” (The Economist 1-2). Hobby Lobby argued that obligating corporations to provide their employees with contraception was not the least restrictive way…

against the notion that while religion makes people moral, atheism makes them immoral. He puts forward other motives of human behavior other than fear or love of divine and claims that an atheist might be virtuous as much as a religious person or maybe even more. In this paper I shall examine Rousseau’s and Bayle’s claims on religion and atheism, then explain why an atheist on contrary to Rousseau’s ideas can make a good citizen. Rousseau examines the ancient religions in terms of political…

Atheism is not a disbelief in gods, rather it is a lack of a belief in a deity or god; however some Atheists go beyond a mere disbelief in all gods: they believe some gods in particular don't exist. Atheism is separated into two categories: weak Atheism and strong Atheism. Weak Atheists have a disbelief in the existence of god, while strong Atheists firmly believe that God does not, and can not, exist. A recent survey taken in early 2015 reveals that around the world, Atheists make up 11…

The acceptance of evil or theodicy within our modern world, has become questioned more and more as we as citizens of the world and children of God are constantly exposed to the terrors of religious fanatic’s, murderers, and tribes of kidnappers around the globe. The phrase, if God is all powerful, all knowing, and all good, how can that same God allow evil to exist and for bad things to happen to good people? Some authors have even attempted to answer this question directly, there is at…

My midterm paper will be covering the issues of Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz’s Theodicy and the problem of evil as well as the objections to his argument. In life, I favor optimism over cynicism, but sometimes it can be hard when there are so many horrible things that occur within our world. After reading Leibniz’s theory for the problem of evil and why it occurs, I was moved because he finally put in to words my everlasting faith for the reason God does the things that he does. Leibniz’s…

someone commits evil and is rewarded with bad. Then that person will stop the evils that he/she does for that he/she acknowledges that his/her actions were sinful. Moreover, Richard G. Swinburne’s philosophical thinking is equivalent to the Chinese philosophy of yin and yang.Yin is negative,dark,and feminine while yang is positive,bright,and masculine. In Swinburne’s theodicy(divine goodness in sight of the existence of evil) there must be some form of evil in order to achieve the greater…

Science and Religion: Uncompromising war? A critique “God, Science, and Imagination” by Wendell Berry is a bombardment review on “Without God” by Steven Weinberg. The author refutes the claim – nonexistence of God by Steven Weinberg citing everyone has his/her opinion to put forward and the essay “Without God” is a mere opinion of Steven. The author is right that everyone has his/her opinion about God and science and it a never ending debate, however, everyone should respect the opposing ideas…