Does God Exist? Does God Exist? In this unit you will get the chance to explore some of life’s biggest questions… Can we prove God exists? Why does God let bad things happen? Do miracles happen? How did we get here? Throughout this unit you will need to develop the attribute of curiosity to think about your own opinion and ideas on these questions – it matters what you think! Does God Exist? Lessons 7-9: Creation, Big Bang and Evolution Lesson 1: Atheist, Theist, Agnostic Lesson 2: Homestudy set up Lesson 4: Pascal’s Wager Lesson 5: Religious Experiences Lesson 6: Miracles and Visions Lesson 3: Faith and Proof Lessons 10-13: Free Will and the Problem of Evil

Atheist, Theist, Agnostic Learning Objective: To begin to explore arguments for and against the existence of God. I can define and apply the keywords atheist, theist and agnostic I can explore arguments for and against the existence of God I can explain my own opinion on the question ‘Does God Exist?’ Keywords: Atheist – someone who does not believe in God Theist – someone who believes in God Agnostic – someone who is not sure whether or not God exists

Wandering Philosophers You are each going to be given a card with a question on it. Read the question and construct an answer – what do you think about it? Remember there is no right or wrong answer, this is your opinion! You then need to move around the room. When the music stops turn to the closest person to you. Read them your question and tell them your thoughts on it. They will do the same to you. When you have both heard each others’ answers, swap cards and when the music starts move around again! If time ask students the most interesting answer they heard.

Atheist, Theist, Agnostic As a group, draw this Venn diagram on your sugar paper. Come up with as many reasons you can think of as to why someone might be an atheist, a theist or an agnostic. Envoys – give students the opportunity to have a look at other group’s sugar paper so they can ‘steal’ some ideas. Each group is to share their best idea/reason with the class. Keywords: Atheist – someone who does not believe in God Theist – someone who believes in God Agnostic – someone who is not sure whether or not God exists

Atheist, Theist, Agnostic In your exercise book write down the definitions of the keywords: atheist, theist, agnostic. Underneath each definition write down one reason why someone might have this view. Atheist means… Some people are atheists because… Theist means… Some people are theists because… Agnostic means… Some people are agnostic because… Remember minimum standards of presentation!

Does God Exist? What do you think? Inside your unit overviews you will find a continuum line for lesson 1. On your continuum arrow place a cross to indicate your opinion on the question ‘does God exist’? You then need to use the space in the box to briefly explain your thoughts. You need to use one keyword in your response. For example… I am agnostic because there is no proof that God does exist but equally there is no proof that he doesn’t. I think we will only know whether there is a God when we die. x

Plus, minus, interesting What if we found out that God definitely exists? What would be a plus, what would be a minus and what would be something interesting? Discuss with the person next to you. If students finish early they can discuss the question – what if we found out that God definitely does not exist? Plus Minus Something interesting