1. Religion ‘Those who try to prove that God exists a priori are guilty of impious curiosity. For to do that is tantamount to making oneself the god of God, thereby denying the God one seeks.’ Giovanni Vico, 1668-1744

2. Religious terminology TheismPantheismAtheismAgnosticism Logical positivism anthropomorphism Paradox of omnipotence omniamorous Argument from design Argument from religious experience Cosmological argument Theory of evolution Metaphysics omnipotent omniscient Religious pluralism Free will defence Pascal’s Wager

3. Key questions: Is Faith a good way of knowing? Is it possible to speak of knowledge in relation to religion? Can we know if God exists?

4. Antropomorphism How do you see your God? Gender-ethnicity-dress-human- language-thing-personality-force?

5. Religious paradoxes

6. The argument from religious experience Mysticism Religious experience miracles God speaks to... Chosen one Sceptic Neuroscience Epilepsy Food & sleep deprivation Cultural Mystic Joan of Arc Neuro scientist Persinger

7. Discuss: ‘From a scientific point of view, we can make no distinction between a man who eats little and sees heaven and a man who drinks much and sees snakes.’ Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) ‘From a scientific point of view, we can make no distinction between a man who eats little and sees heaven and a man who drinks much and sees snakes.’ Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) We sometimes speak of ‘the miracle of birth’. Do you think birth is really a miracle or is the expression just a metaphor? (See Lagemaat p. 411)

8. The argument from design or teleological argument Biological Physical

9. Theory of evolution

10. Cosmological argument

11. The problem of suffering Free will defence Natural suffering

12. Reason versus faith Faith as WOK Scientific proof of God: necessary? Freud: wish fulfilmentJung’s views on religion Pascal: Odds of God’s existence are 50-50. If we bet he exists and are right we get to heaven. If we are wrong nothing happens. If we bet he does not exist and are wrong, we go to hell. If we are wrong, nothing happens.

13. Faith and intuition How do you know what you believe? Do we need proof?

14. Varieties of religion: religious pluralism?

15. RELEVANT ESSAY QUESTIONS When should we discard explanations that are intuitively appealing? ‘The knowledge that we value the most is knowledge for which we can provide the strongest justifications.’ To what extent do you agree with this claim? Belief has been described as ‘certainty about what cannot be seen’. Does this statement hold true in any, some or all AOK’s? Sagan stated that ‘extroardinary claims require extroardinary evidence’. To what extent do you agree?