Switch on 2 learning Get Creative Starter Challenge: Using ONLY the resources that I give you on your desk build me either: A fully functioning Boeing 747 ready to take passengers to the USA OR B) A fully functioning warship ready to protect British Waters this afternoon. You have 10 minutes. Good luck!

Thunk for the day Just suppose there is a metal scrap yard. One day a tornado comes through town, rips right through the scrap yard for 30 seconds. Do you think it would be possible for the tornado to leave the scrap yard having created in that 30 seconds a fully formed jumbo jet? Give detailed reasons for your answer.

Foundational Theology Unit 1: Origins and meaning What do Catholics believe about the origins of the universe? Pt.1 Learning objective: To examine the main beliefs of Catholics concerning the origins of the Universe.

What does success look like today? Today’s success criteria: Lesson title: What do Catholics believe about the origins of the universe? L.O. To examine the main beliefs of Catholics concerning the origins of the Universe. Today’s success criteria: You MUST understand why Catholics believe the world is designed. You SHOULD explain the ‘First Cause’ argument.   You COULD explain what Catholics mean by the terms: Omnipotent, Omnibenevolent, Omniscient, Transcendent, Immanent and Eternal.

How do we know gravity exists? How does it show evidence of design? Experiment 1: How do we know gravity exists? How does it show evidence of design? Everyone must jump as high as they can 3 times. What happens? What would happen if we had too much gravity? Demonstrate it. What would happen if we had too little gravity? Demonstrate it. Learning objective: To examine the main beliefs of Catholics concerning the origins of the Universe.

How do we know eyes were designed? Experiment 2: How do we know eyes were designed? In pairs choose who is A and who is B. A must blindfold B using their tie. A must hide somewhere in the room and B must try and find them without talking. Review: Why are eyes important? How do eyes work? Learning objective: To examine the main beliefs of Catholics concerning the origins of the Universe.

Paley’s watch – Key belief 1 William Paley was an 18th Century Philosopher who said: Imagine you were walking along a field when you spot a pocket watch. You pick it up examine it, notice the cogs, springs, dials all working in perfect order. You think to yourself someone with intelligence needed to have designed this perfectly together because it is so complex. Paley said, then look at the Universe. It is so detailed that it too must have had an intelligent designer. The only being intelligent enough must have been God.

watchmaker analogy – The teleological argument William Paley said that everything in existence shows evidence of design – e.g a pocket watch (designed so perfectly it couldn’t be the product of pure chance). To exist it needs an intelligent designer to put the components in the right place. Many Catholics believe this because when we look at nature we see: Trees – the way they breath in CO2 and produce O2 for us to breath. Ozone layer – Lets in just enough UV to warm us up but not enough to kill us. The seasons – Regulates the earth temperature. The human eye – Its designed perfectly with lots of different components to allow us to see perfectly. The only being intelligent enough to design the world must therefore be God.

Critics of the idea of design Dawkins said that if God is a ‘watchmaker’ like Paley stated, then God is a ‘Blind watchmaker’. He argues if God was a perfect designer then why would he design a world filled with: Disease, Famine, War, Illness, Crime and suffering. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suvkwNYSQo Watch the Stephen Fry clip. What does Stephen Fry say about the idea of God designing the world? What examples does he give to support his belief?

The cosmological argument – Key belief 2 A happy petition is a competition: Which team can build the most funky and longest domino line in the class? Success criteria: Most number of books in the line. Most quirky shape. Books must stand up until I tell you. You have 3 minutes good luck!

The cosmological argument – Key belief 2 When we push over the books what happens? What causes the last book to fall over? What causes that one to fall over? What causes that one to fall over…etc…etc..etc..?! What is needed to cause them initially to fall over? Green hat: How might this experiment link to Catholic beliefs about the creation of the world?

The cosmological argument – Key notes Everything in creation The Catholic Saint St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) developed the cosmological argument. The Cosmological argument stated that: God is the First Cause of everything, That everything in creation can be traced back to God. That God is an unmoved mover – He is different from creation, exists outside of creation (transcendent) but sets everything off in the world. Everything in creation God

Why do modern catholics believe this? In a modern scientific world, the Causation argument (cosmological argument) is still appealing to Catholics because: Science says everything in creation needs a cause. Whilst the Big Bang gives a logical chain of events for the existence of the world it cannot tell us what the cause of it was. So the causation argument answers that. God is the only being omnipotent (all-powerful) enough to be the cause of the Universe.

The cosmological argument in the media Watch this clip from the film The Invention of Lying. In this clip Ricky Gervais tells people the role of what he calls ‘the man in the sky’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0c_-I2cLbo White hat: What does God cause according to this clip? Red hat: How does this clip make you feel? Yellow hat: What would be the benefits of God causing everything in the universe? Black hat: What would the negatives of God causing everything in the universe?

Criticisms of the cosmological argument 1. If everything in existence needs a cause, then what caused God? 2. If God is the first cause of everything did he therefore cause 9/11, did he cause the Holocaust or Hitler?