Deck 3: God

Question 1

According to Immanuel Kant,because there is a clear connection between happiness and morality we do not need to believe in the existence of God in order to be moral.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The "least of the evils" solution to the problem of evil raises the question about whether it is fair to allow an innocent man to suffer even if he will receive an elaborate reward later on.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

According to Kierkegaard,total commitment to God requires that a person must at least arrive at a plausible conception of God.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Anselm's ontological argument starts off with a single stated assumption,that one has a concept of God,an infinite and most perfect being.

Question 5

In ancient religions,believers tended to worship the same the gods or goddesses.

Question 6

According to Pascal,if we wagered that God exists but it turned out God did not exist,then the worst that could happen is that we would have given up a few sinful pleasures that we might otherwise have enjoyed.

Question 7

For Kierkegaard,believing in God is not just a matter of intellectually accepting the proposition that God exists.

Question 8

According to the problem of evil,if there is evil in the world,then either God can't do anything about it,God doesn't know about it,or God doesn't care about it.

Question 9

Because of his belief in God's transcendence,the Protestant Reformer,Martin Luther,wanted the Church to serve as an intermediary between the individual and God.

Question 10

Leibniz's belief that "this is the best of all possible worlds" implies that evil does not exist.

Question 11

The Egyptian philosopher Akhnaton and American philosopher Charles Hartshorne both believed that God was constantly self-creating.

Question 12

Voltaire made fun of the ontological argument in his novel Candide.

Question 13

The fact that religion is usually thought to be a matter of belief and not a kind of knowledge that can be proven means that religious arguments have limits.

Question 14

According to Aquinas,God is a first cause,both as the cause of the universe's coming into existence,and as the cause of its being preserved in existence from one instant to the next.

Question 15

According to Hegel,absolute Spirit acts through human beings but is also not different from human beings.

Question 16

If human actions (such as those that produce the green house gases that cause global warming)were part of the cause of a natural disaster,like Hurricane Katrina,then the suffering caused by that natural disaster could have some features of moral evil.

Question 17

Buddhists hold that we can be liberated from suffering through belief in God.

Question 18

According to John Hick,ordinary believers report an awareness of God as existing in isolation from all other objects of experience.

Question 19

One of the criticisms of the design argument proposed by David Hume is that even if the world was designed,it might be the work only of inferior deity and is the object of derision to his superiors.

Question 20

Theodicies are any attempt at showing that the existence of God is compatible with the existence of evil.

Question 21

If,according to the free will solution to the problem of evil,God cannot interfere with our actions then

A) God's power would seem to be limited.
B) God's goodness seems to be limited.
C) God's knowledge seems to be limited.
D) evil and suffering are not real.

Question 22

According to Kierkegaard,what is important is not our conception of God,but

A) the passion with which we believe in him.
B) how plausible our conception is.
C) whether we lived an ethically good life.
D) how convincing our arguments for God's existence are.

Question 23

One thing that all religions do seem to have in common is the general sensibility that we call spirituality,the feeling that we are part of something much greater than ourselves.

Question 24

The Aesthetic Totality Solution to the problem of evil urges us to view God as a kind of "cosmic artist."This view is most consistent with

A) a process conception of God.
B) deism.
C) pantheism.
D) polytheism.

Question 25

Religions such as Christianity,Islam,Buddhism,Zoroastrianism,and Confucianism all trace themselves back to a single person who is their founder.

Question 26

The Christian conception of the incarnation of God as human,and the idea of a Holy
Spirit that infuses us all,both assume

A) polytheism.
B) pantheism.
C) the transcendence of God.
D) the immanence of God.

Question 27

According to the story of the Book of Job,

A) God made Job the "father of all nations."
B) God allowed Job to suffer because Job did not follow God's commandments closely enough.
C) God punished Job for not going straight to Ninevah,as God commanded him to do.
D) God permitted all kinds of terrible sufferings to afflict Job,who was a good man and believed in God wholeheartedly.

Question 28

If we understand religions in terms of their traditions,differences between religions appear to disappear and it seems more and more true that "all religions are the same."

Question 29

Which of the following is one question that arises if you believe God is transcendent?

A) "How can you know of God's existence,and how can you relate to God at all?"
B) "How can you believe in the unity of God?"
C) "Could something happen that would threaten God's existence?"
D) "Could God create a rock so large that God Himself cannot lift it?"

Question 30

If,as process philosophy says,God is constantly creating himself and the universe as well,then this means that

A) polytheism may be true.
B) God must be unchanging.
C) "creationists" and "evolutionists" are necessarily at odds with another.
D) the continuing battle between "creationists" and "evolutionists" may be a false fight.

Question 31

According to the "least of the evils" position,

A) evil appears to exist,but does not actually exist.
B) there is no more evil in the world than is necessary except,perhaps,for moral evil.
C) evil is a mystery that cannot be comprehended.
D) all evil comes into the world through free-will.

Question 32

Although Karl Marx believed religion was an illusion,he thought that it was an expression of real suffering and a protest against that suffering.

Question 33

When someone attempts to resolve the problem of evil by claiming that everyone who suffers somehow deserves to suffer they are

A) claiming the good outweighs the evil.
B) claiming evil is part of an aesthetic totality.
C) tracing evil back to free will.
D) denying evil really exists.

Question 34

The appearance of the Virgen de Guadalupe to a poor Indian named Juan Diego at the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City,is an example of

A) process theism.
B) deism.
C) religious syncretism.
D) polytheism.

Question 35

Hegel paints a dynamic and complex picture of God,in which we humans are essentially

A) the messengers of God,like angels.
B) the primary expressions of spirit,which acts through us and even uses us for its own purposes.
C) caught between equally strong forces of good and evil.
D) saved by an absolutely transcendent God.

Question 36

The problem of evil only arises because we believe that

A) God is all-powerful.
B) God is all-powerful,all-knowing and all-good.
C) God is all-good.
D) God is all-good and all-knowing.

Question 37

Suppose that Anne believes in God,but like Voltaire,she has a deist conception of God.What then does Anne believe about God?

A) God is a self-creating process.
B) God and the universe are one.
C) God is an initial,impersonal,creative force.
D) God is a personal creator who is infinitely wise,just,and powerful.

Question 38

According to Buddhism,

A) suffering is not the universal condition of human existence.
B) suffering is the universal condition of human existence.
C) God is both transcendent and immanent.
D) God is a dynamic force in history.

Question 39

The seventeenth-century Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza,insisted

A) that God is everything,identical to the universe itself.
B) that God is absolutely transcendent.
C) that pantheism must be wrong.
D) on returning to polytheism.

Question 40

Beginning with Sigmund Freud,psychiatrists have defined irrationality only as believing what cannot reasonably be believed.

Question 41

How does Aquinas' cosmological argument for God's existence differ from the argument from design?

Question 42

Regarding religious tolerance,we seem to have two options: Either

A) we can promote religious tolerance or continue to live in a world saturated with intolerance.
B) people can peacefully convert to one world religion,or there will be violent conflict between religions.
C) we will prove one religion is true,or we will not.
D) we will give up religious commitments,or we will never learn to be tolerant.

Question 43

Because Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection makes an attempt to explain exactly how a complex world could come into existence over time without assuming a divine creator,it challenges the

A) ontological argument.
B) argument from design.
C) the cosmological argument.
D) the problem of evil.

Question 44

How does the religious perspective of pantheism make the question "Do you believe in God?" confusing?

Question 45

One of the things that makes rituals and traditions of primary,and not merely,secondary importance to religious practitioners is

A) the fact that their superiority can be rationally argued for.
B) the fact that they induce mystical experiences.
C) their universality.
D) their particularity.

Question 46

What is spirituality and how is it different from religion?

Question 47

William Paley developed a version of the

A) cosmological argument.
B) problem of evil.
C) ontological argument.
D) argument from design.

Question 48

When Freud calls religion an illusion he means is that it

A) is an error.
B) is social construction in which the meaning of the world is inverted.
C) primarily arises as a form of wish fulfillment.
D) serves no psychological function.

Question 49

Define and give two examples of theodicy.

Question 50

That the universe may have always existed and thus does not need to be explained by a "first cause" that created it,

A) is an objection to the ontological argument.
B) is an objection to the design argument.
C) is an objection to the cosmological argument.
D) is the so-called "sixth way."

Question 51

According to Immanuel Kant,God's existence

A) can be proved,but only through a revised version of the cosmological argument.
B) is neither a matter of knowledge,nor a necessary feature of our moral outlook on the world.
C) is not a matter of knowledge,but it is a necessary feature of our moral outlook on the world.
D) is both a matter of knowledge,and a necessary feature of our moral outlook on the world.

Question 52

What is the difference between the concepts of God as transcendent and God as immanent?

Question 53

What does it mean to say Western conceptions of God tend to be anthropomorphic?

Question 54

Explain what Kierkegaard means by the "leap of faith?"

Question 55

To say that mystical experiences are "ineffable" is to say that

A) they cannot be described or communicated to anyone else.
B) they can be communicated and described to others.
C) while they can be described and communicated,they tend only to be convincing to other mystics.
D) very few people can have them.

Question 56

Immanuel Kant challenges the ontological argument's second premise which states that

A) we cannot conceive of God except as an infinite and most perfect being.
B) existence is a "perfection."
C) an infinite series of causes is impossible.
D) there is an analogy between nature and human artifacts,like watches.

Question 57

What does Marx mean when he says "religion is the opium of the people?"

Question 58

What are the two aspects of religion that are not simply a matter of belief?

Question 59

What is Kant's main criticism of the ontological argument for God's existence?

Question 60

Sigmund Freud argued that what really makes belief in God irrational is that

A) God exists,but is ineffable.
B) it is too hard; very few people can successfully walk on "the narrow path."
C) the arguments for God's existence are unconvincing.
D) it is a childish illusion that gives us
Unwarranted and sometimes destructive attitudes and expectations toward life.

Question 61

What,precisely,is the problem of evil?
Give two examples of events (real or fictional)that might raise this problem for religious believers.One should involve nonmoral evil,and the other should involve moral evil.
Be careful to explain how these two kinds of evil are different.
Draw on three of the theodicies,or solutions to the problem of evil,developed in this chapter,and show how they address this problem.
How does each solution meet,or fail to meet,the challenge of explaining both kinds of evil?
Which of these theodicies is the most convincing,and which is the least convincing,and why?

Question 62

Many people have commented on how many of our conceptions and images of God are anthropomorphic.One version of this is the image of God as an old man.
Why can't this image be literally true?
Feminist theologians focus on masculine and patriarchal images of God that involve more subtle patriarchal biases.
Some have argued that the conception of God as totally transcendent,all-powerful,unchanging,and all-knowing,is especially masculinist/patriarchal and,as a result,exclusionary.
Do you agree?
Why or why not?
How might conceptions of God as immanent,pantheistic and in process,escape this charge?
Are they (in your estimate)superior to the masculinist conceptions?

Question 63

Explain the cosmological,ontological,design arguments,and the moral proof for God's existence.
Do these arguments share any points in common?
How do they differ?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of each kind of argument?
Develop one objection to each of the arguments.
Which of the arguments seems the strongest and why?

Question 64

Write an essay showing the relationship between morality and religious belief.
Begin with Immanuel Kant's moral proof for belief in God.
What is this moral proof?
Do you agree with Kant that one needs to believe in God to be moral?
What's your conception of the relationship of religious belief and morality?

Question 65

Write an essay developing a philosophy of religious tolerance.
Your essay should start with the discussion of tolerance in chapter three.
How is tolerance linked with the fact that we can't know whether our religious conceptions are true?
Why doesn't this imply giving up our beliefs in the truth of these conceptions?
How is tolerance possible,if not on the basis of belief?
What is your personal philosophy of tolerance?
How do experience and deal with different religious faiths in your life?

Question 66

Although the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions emphasize the existence of one God,there are,in fact,a rich variety of conceptions of this one God throughout our long history.
Write an essay describing four of the conceptions of God developed in this chapter.
Explain each conception and determine if there are any points of agreement between them.
How do they differ from one another?
Raise one philosophical question for each of these conceptions.
From your point of view,explain which conception is the strongest,and which is the weakest,and why?

Question 67

Write a dialogue between two characters who are debating about whether it is possible to prove or disprove that God exists.
The characters can be theists,atheists or agnostics.
The substance of the dialogue should be a critical discussion arguing over at least three lines of argument for and/or against God's existence.
These can be from the text,but are not limited to the text.
The dialogue can end in the two characters agreeing,in their agreeing to disagree,or in their arriving at a new viewpoint that synthesizes both points of view.

Question 68

Write a fictional dialogue featuring two characters who are attempting to grapple with evil,as they witness it in the world.
The substance of the dialogue should be a critical discussion in which the characters describe the problem of evil,as they understand it,and then argue about how the problem is best resolved.
As the dialogue unfolds,the traditional problem of evil should be described,and three of the theodicies from chapter three should be discussed-although the characters are not limited to these viewpoints.
The dialogue can end in the two characters agreeing,in their agreeing to disagree,or in their arriving at a new viewpoint that synthesizes both points of view.

Question 69

Many people say that they are "spiritual" but not "religious"?
What does it mean to be spiritual,and how is this different from being religious?
What beliefs does it involve?
Is it grounded in some type experience?
If religious believers maintain their faith through particular rituals and traditions,and not merely beliefs,what rituals and traditions do you draw on to maintain your spirituality?

Question 70

The theologian Paul Tillich defines faith as "ultimate concern."
Write an essay developing your philosophy of religious faith.
What is the object of your ultimate concern?
Is it a god-or something else?
What's the basis of,or grounds for,your commitment to this object of faith?
The way you were raised?
Some philosophical argument?
A mystical experience?
Is your faith rational-or irrational,as Freud,Marx,or Kierkegaard claim?
Have you made anything resembling Pascal's "Wager," or Kierkegaard's "Leap of Faith?"
How do you understand the fact that other people have different objects of faith?