Philosophy Of Religion

Why in God is the second person of the Trinity (the Son) not younger than the Father?

The atheist William Rowe uses an argument called the problem of evil that tries to prove the nonexistence of God’s however I can dismiss said argument. The problem of evil is the argument that an all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly good God would not allow any—or certain kinds of—evil or suffering to occur. The problem of evil contends that some known fact about evil is evidence against the existence of God. This objection is typically raised against the Christian faith. The Bible describes God as a god of love (1 John 4:16) and an all powerful god (Jeremiah 32:17). The rationale behind this objection is, quite simply, if God is a loving god then he wouldn't want mankind to suffer and if he is an all powerful god then he would have the means to stop suffering. Therefore, the rationale follows, God cannot be both loving and all powerful and so the Christian premise must be wrong. However, this is, in fact, an oversimplification of Christian theology. The Bible itself acknowledges the existence of suffering and even suggests that suffering brings benefits: In Romans 8:17 it is said that “We are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also

Upon reading the chapters written by both Kessler and Martin this week I believe that this will be an interesting course for the seven remaining weeks. Even though I identify myself as a follower of the Christian faith, I think it will be nice to have a fresh outlook on religion from the outsider's point of view. From my time as a first grader through my time as an eighth grader, I spent at least an hour or two each week learning about the Catholic faith in a religion class. Also, I would like to see how this course will possibly change my outlook or open my eyes to different aspects of religion. In addition, I expect to have discussions about several religions from the various regions of the world. I hope that these discussions will help me broaden my understanding and appreciation of other religion and cultural backgrounds

In the book, “ A Beginners Guide to the Study of Religion”, Herling highlights the clash that questions who has more knowledge in religion between an outsider and an insider. The insider being the person who physically and emotionally participates in said religion whilst the outsider being the one who studies and gains information about it from every corner from afar. Although this question is slightly unsolvable, it’s important for us as students to understand the concept of what our position means, why both insiders and outsiders are important, and which stance we should be taking in this course. This also in a sense links with Megan Roper’s TedEd talk about her position as both an insider and an outsider and how one should approach either

Religion was involved with many things in a person’s life. It affects things like social status, relationships, the economy, culture, and politics. The complex ideas of religion and politics have shaped societies. The Puritans have set their goal to make their society and way of living connected to God in every way, shape, and form. In the seventeenth century this standard to keep God by your side has deeply affected politics and lawmaking, and has even caused some people to be continuously persecuted. From the strength of their religious beliefs stemmed these radical ideas, which deeply affected lives in the 17th century. Though these ideas were a way of life at one point in time, if these ideas were applied to our government today the

What could possibly be regarded the most controversial and most debated topic ever - Religion[1]. For a long time, it's been debated - mostly by theists and atheists, if it is truly beneficial to our society or if is mostly detrimental[2]. How could just looking up to a god be so detrimental for the welfare our world? While the existence of religion itself isn't controversial, when you start digging into the fundamentals of it things start to become more contentious[3]. In our world, we have an abundance of religions - ranging from Christianity, Catholicism, Mormonism, and the Islamic religion[4]. While they all vary in detail, they all share the same fundamental idea of the existence of a deity[4].

Rowe’s argument originates from the argument of evil, which is, if there is an omniscient being, who is in fact, then why does this being allow meaningless suffering to exist ? Therefore, there is no God because gratuitous suffering does exist. In this argument, Rowe finds the definition for God and Evil within this argument. In Rowe’s case, God means a wholly, good omniscient being, and Evil means(well in God’s case) the action of not doing anything when animal or people are in need of such an awesome being. Rowe’s argument is pretty much the same as the argument of evil, except he applied a few conditions, which is what he summarized from the evil argument himself . The conditons: If there is some greater good, it is only obtainable if God permits it. Or, there is a greater good, that God permits either, or some evil equally bad or worse. Finally, gratititous suffering is preventable only if omniscient God permits some evil

Religions of the world must be studied subjectively, or with the attitude of pluralism, the view that they are all equal. A number of methods are used to study religions. The most common is the historical comparative method in which a certain faith's history and traditions are deliberated. This method focuses on orthodoxy, meaning "correct thought." Another method is the phenomenological method. This method, unlike the historical comparative method, is centered on orthopraxy, or "correct practice."

teach his people to love others. He wanted people to treat all the other people around

When discussing religion, many people have different perspectives about religion beliefs and how to approach it. Religion is grouped in different sections such as, religion and spirituality, religion and philosophy, and religion and politics. Religion has many different views from different cultures because everyone approaches it differently with different beliefs also. To make something religion, is to have some type of belief in God, but everyone’s belief is different depending on the culture someone is located in. In society back then and today, religion has no set essence of a definition because of the different aspects people group religion in. This paper will explain the different aspects of what people believe constitutes different types of religion.

Religion, as defined by the High Court of Australia, is ‘a complex of beliefs and practices which point to a set of values and an understanding of the meaning of existence’ (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005) and can be studied either substantively or functionally (Berger 1974:126). Substantive studies of religion fall predominantly in the realm of theology and are more concerned with defining religious beliefs; their historical accuracy; and the existence of supernatural entities (Holmes, Hughes & Julian 2007:425). Sociology however, concerns itself primarily with the relationship between religion and society, examining religion as a social construction (Van Krieken et al. 2010:350-1) and concerned only with the substance of

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.

All through history, religion and what God someone follows has drastically affected their lifestyle by affecting their political statuses. The way someone lived was determined by what religion they followed politically,economically and socially. Most colonies official religion was Anglican/Church of England or Christianity but some did not have an official religion which created problems. The slaves that were forcefully immigrated to the colonies were not able to practice their own religion because some owner were extremely religious and other were not able to connect to their God or Gods. American history demonstrate that religion and the God someone followed had drastic effects with politics by not being able to be part of it, economy by not being able to own any land and make money for himself , and society by not being about to join any communities or organization extremely affected slaves to reach true happiness in the place they call home.

The terms ‘religion’ and ‘spirituality’ can have both similarities and differences. Religion can be explained as a set of beliefs that has structure and is practiced within a group or community. It involves worshipping of superhuman beings, and often contains certain teachings in which its believers/followers abide by and practice in everyday society. Although not all religions incorporate a ‘God’, the Catholic Church is centred around the Triune God (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit). Catholic teachings reflect the actions that God/Jesus displayed for the sake of humanity. Religious art, is significant within a religion as it is considered to be a sacred material, in which provides proper guidance and hope. Religious art provides many purposes such

The idea, concept, and practices of religion have never really been something that is of importance to me during my life. For the longest time I did not identify as any certain or specific religion and when asked I would simply state how I was not a religious person. It was not until high school when I discovered the religion of Agnosticism. In our English class we had to research different religions and our group received Agnosticism. Before then I had never heard of that religion, but after learning about Agnosticism it pretty much summed up how I feel and what I believe about God and religion. Basically Agnosticism entails that the person believes that the existence of God is uncertain and claims neither a faith nor a disbelief in God. I feel like this religion perfectly sums up how I feel when it comes to my faith and ideas about God and just religion as a whole. Since I am not a religious type of person, the idea of me choosing another one that I would be a part of seems like a difficult task. When I do think about the various religions that I have studied, written, and read about during the course of this semester there is one that stands out to me. If I had to choose another religion to join instead of my own, I would join Buddhism because their fundamental principles and values are those that I can agree with and their ultimate purpose in life is something I can see myself believing in as well.