Methodological Naturalism: The Historical Context Of New Atheism

Atheistic Naturalism an ever growing trend in the United States, and although it is not at a level to be concerned with at this point; it is

In William L. Rowe 's paper "The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism" he sets out to accomplish two main goals. The first goal is directed toward theists, while the second attempts to reach the very wellspring of an atheist 's heart. Foremost, Rowe sets out to show that there is "an argument for atheism based on the existence of evil that may rationally justify someone in being an atheist" (335). After he has effectively addressed this first issue he moves on to try and convince the atheist that in light of all the evidence that theists are rationally justified (just as much as the atheist) and therefore that atheists should subscribe to what Rowe calls "friendly atheism."

Scientific Naturalism and Christianity are possibly the two most contradictory worldviews that are in our culture today. They are also the two most difficult to understand by one another. There is very little about these two worldviews that they have in common. They are a vast amount of ideas and beliefs held by adherents of each that are different. In order for these two worldviews to successfully co-exist in society, it is important to understand, accept, and learn from each one.

According to Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, “A lacuna in Christian theology is the forgetfulness of the cosmic dimensions.” That is, “In the biblical and patristic traditions, ‘cosmic’ Christologies and pneumatologies are present,” and the retrieval of tradition is “important both for the sake of interfaith hospitality and improving Christianity’s self-understanding” in interdisciplinary dialogue. Kärkkäinen points out that the cosmic Christology of the NT (John 1:1-14; Col. 1:15-19; Heb. 1:2-4) points to “the integral link between Christ’s role in creation and in reconciliation.” This universal Christology resonates with patristic theologies, but “unfortunately was by and large lost by the time of modern Classical Liberalism and its highly reductionist conception of Jesus merely as a ‘spiritual’ teacher of personal piety.” In the same vein, Christopher Knight also points out that for the patristic fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, the Cappadocians, Maximos the Confessor, and many others, “The Logos in His kenosis, His self-emptying, is hidden everywhere, and the types of His reality, whether in the forms of persons or teachings, will not be the same outside the Christian world as they are within it.”

What is atheism? Why would someone be an atheist? Why do people fear and dislike atheism? Simply stated, atheism is the lack of belief in a god or gods. Granted, atheists are each individuals and undoubtedly each of them prescribe [to] many different philosophies on life, politics and morality as do Christians. However, though atheists may choose to gather collectively for whatever purpose, unlike Christianity, atheism is not a belief system. An individual who identifies himself as an atheist is merely stating that he does not believe in [the existence of] god or gods. Atheism, as indicated by its name, is the opposite of theism which is belief in at least one god; to include polytheism (belief in many or more than one god) and monotheism

Atheism has a long and colorful history, but that history has been largely hidden from the public's view due to religious suppression. It is therefore, with great effort, that modern atheists are re-discovering their heritage. Some early Greek philosophers were among the first to write down atheistic ideas. Great thinkers such as Heraclitus, Democritus, Protagorus, and Lucretius expressed views that questioned the existence of gods.

In this paper, I will argue, new atheism could be identified as a non-religious fundamentalist group with some definitions while with over definitions of fundamentalism making new atheism, not a fundamentalist group.

Individuals said that they lacked empirical evidence and continued to have inconsistent revelations therefore they did not believe. This religion has no holy figure who is followed and they deny a creator deity. There are different extensions of the idea of atheism. Implicit atheism is the absence of theistic belief, and explicit atheism means that the belief in God is irrational therefore it should be rejected. Positive atheism asserts that no deities exist and negative atheism does not believe in the existence of deities but does not assert that there are not any.

Atheism means there is no deity or God. In connection to the religion, atheism is an idea that denies religion as faith in the powerful. Atheism is generally based on a philosophy of naturalism, which holds that only natural phenomena exist and that there are no paranormal forces, or materialism, which holds that the world and the universe contain only material or physical objects. “For some, atheism is combined with and possibly strengthened by a strong dislike of organized religion or a vigorous rejection of attitudes and values associated with religion.” “Atheists may reject theistic beliefs because they are incompatible with the existence of evil in the world, or because there is little or no concrete proof that God exists, or because they reject the concept of God as an old man in the sky, or because theistic beliefs seem

Naturalism or atheism is based on the belief that there is no God or any supreme being, and the world just evolved from nothingness. The ultimate reality of Naturalism is that the eternal existence and everything that exists was created from nothing. Carl Sagan said, “Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature, c 1985.” With this train of thought the realty is looked at from a scientific point of view. Naturalism teaches that the world came about by chance, and life evolved from a simple organism to man’s life today. The theory has been debated from the Darwinism era to today. This is a theory that is presented as a fact, the science of Man.

In the modern period, we tend to think of science and religion as being diametrically opposed. However, the study of science and nature, attempts to confirm the existence of God as portrayed by various natural philosophers. This paper will discuss in detail how some of the ancient natural philosophers used physics, chemistry (and alchemy), and biology to understand the rational design of the world, and hence used science to prove the existence of God.

In the article, “On Being an Atheist”, H.J. McCloskey discusses the reasons of why he believes being an atheist is a more acceptable than Christianity. McCloskey believes that atheism is a more rational belief versus having a God who allows people to suffer so he can have the glory. He believes to live in this world, you must be comfortable. The introduction of his article, he implements an overview of arguments given by the theist, which he introduces as proofs. He claims that the proofs do not create a rationalization to believe that God exists. He provides 3 theist proofs, which are Cosmological argument, teleological argument, and the argument of design. He also mentions the presence of evil in the world. He focuses on the existence

many humans wish to acquiesce a religious appearance of creationism to be accomplished in the

There are thousands of different religions around the world, the majority of which are isolated to a certain cultural group and ethnicity, the two major categories of religion are classified as Eastern and Western religions. There are a handful of religious organizations, theories, and philosophies that have over time grown into world, global religions. This paper will compare and contrast Materialism, Deism, Naturalism and Agnosticism. I will then summarize which of the first three mentioned religious practices is most compatible with Agnosticism.

Naturalism is a philosophy which emphasizes “the effect of heredity and environment on human nature and action” (Zhang) and incorporates realism to “suggest that social conditions… and environment [have] inescapable force in shaping human character” (Zhang). Furthermore, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Natural Philosophy explains that to Naturalists, “reality is exhausted by nature, containing nothing ‘supernatural’, and that the scientific method should be used to investigate all areas of reality” (Papineau). Naturalism (in literature) is an idea that suggests everything about humanity is measurable, detectable, manipulatable, and traceable to a cause, and therefore the characters of Naturalist literature would be illustrated as simply the products of their environments; vessels devoid of spiritual guidance or fate that are subject only to their environments. An example of a Naturalistic novel is The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton; a novel set in late 19th century New York that follows Lily Bart: a young woman who was born rich but is slowly losing both her societal status and her money whilst she repeatedly avoids marriage, her only option to escape her fate: a life of poverty. With this in mind, The House of Mirth is an exemplary example of a Naturalistic novel because of its portrayal of characters as the product of their environments.