WHAT IS RELIGION? Philosophy of Religion

What is religion? What are some characteristics of religion?

Philosophy of Religion Smart:  doctrine; experience of the supernatural; myth; ritual; morality; organization. Theism is the belief in a personal God who is creator of the world and present in its processes and with whom we might come into contact.

Does God exist? The Ontological Argument - Saint Anselm The Cosmological Argument – Saint Thomas Aquinas The Design Argument - Paley

Pantheism and Panentheism Pantheism is the belief that everything is God and God is everything. Spinoza. Panetheism – literally means “all in God” and attempts to merge pantheism and traditional theism. The universe is in God but God is more than the universe.

Atheists and Agnostics How reasonable is religion? The central feature of atheism is the view that there are good reasons to believe that God does not exist. Agnostics say they don’t know whether or not God exists.

Why we believe Freud suggests that people believe because they have an infantile need to believe that someone is looking after them. Kant – we need to believe in God in order to fulfill our hope of justice.

Religious Belief “The Will to Believe” – William James Personal Experience of the Divine Mysticism Kierkegaard Tillich

Non Traditional Religious Belief Feminist Theology  Mary Daly – men use God as an excuse to exercise power over women.

Eastern Religious Traditions Hinduism Buddhism Zen Buddhism