Atheism and postmodernism

Atheism
Agnosticism
Rise in Atheism
Postmodernist view of religion
Negative: Never considered possibility of God e.g. child. Conclude God can't be justified.
Positive: Conscious denial, through thought.
Some say cant establish, can't prove something to not exist. But burden of proof lies with those who seek it.
'without knowledge' isn't sufficient proof to believe in god or positively believe he doesn't.
Closer to negative than positive atheism as don't believe in God but unlike them can't deny God.
Jung: Nothing can be seen outside of own psychological experiences.
Ray Billington
Empiricism
Problem of evil
Rebellion against moral absolutes
Awareness of other faiths
'God is dead'
Religious response
Science is supreme catalyst, previous miracles of God have natural explanations.
Galileo, Earth not centre of universe. Darwin's origin of the species. Freud psychoanalysts.
Religion squeezed out with each new discovery. 'GOD OF THE GAPS' soon will be filled with scientific discovery.
Know reality through 5 senses, how things are proved right/wrong. Knowledge gained through experience.
Basis of science- observation and experimentation.
John Locke tried to prove God empirically but Hyman said God was purely non-empirical.
Hume, conclusions from known phenomena, no knowledge but physical, can't justify metaphysical God.
Ayer, verification principle, unless can verify statement it's meaningless, and illogical to make if can't prove it. Only way is empirical evidence.
Aquinas aware of threat, ,God means infinite goodness... if God existed there would be no evil discoverable'.
Omnipotent? Can't be or would be able to end all suffering.
Omniscient? Should know how to stop suffering.
Omnibenevolent? All loving God would stop suffering.
Evil exists so must not be powerful/loving or not exist.
21st century growing media, see world wars and famine.
Religious: evil for punishment, lead to greater good, not all loving?
Phillips: Can never justify hurting that level of people to help.
Karamazov in a novel: refuse belief, innocent children suffer outweigh promise of heaven.
Now rebel against absolutes, 1960's new freedoms and acceptance influence atheism rise.
H.P.Owen: 'It's impossible to think of a command without also thinking of a commander'
Kant: God required for moral law to make sense, rejected rational proofs of God's existence.
Cultural relativists: right/wrong determined by attitude of our culture only think something wrong when culture disapproves. Removes laws and objective reason.
threatens belief
Undermines moral absolutes without God
Moral commands large part of religion, destroy trust in scripture e.g. 10 commandments removing reason for belief.
Reject God's authority to set absolute laws, not omnipotent, omniscient or omnibenevolent.
Increased dialogue between faiths,
John Hick: 'If what Buddhism says is true must not what Islam says be largely false'
Truth les with atheism: 'More reason for believing it false than true'
Contradict, can't be all true.
Hume
Christian truth claims: Christianity miracles destroy validity of Islam.
Nietzsche: god no longer relevant to society
uttered by madman who sees what others don't realise. Science and philo. holds answers we looked to god for. Modern society makes God irrelevant, must find own ethics.
Reject, God's word more reliable than human who discredit God for own purposes.
Science: Compatible, shows physical reasons why, God could be behind them.
Empiricism: Ayer's verification itself can't be verified. Cosmological and design argument are evidence. Religious experience (stigmata) metaphysical, Religion beyond senses, what about emotional and intuitive knowledge?
Evil: Human free will. St Augustine, free will+ consequence of sin. Hick: God want genuine loving, a choice, without possible suffering no meaningful love.
Rejecting moral absolutes: Not threat unless in extreme, Relativism compatible if rejects specific absolutes.Joseph fletcher: rejection caused by atheism, doesn't cause it. Only absolute 'love thy neighbour' (Situation ethics, most loving consequence not right/wrong)
Religious pluralism: Hick: All major religions based on reality many call god, differ but collectively see truth is beyond humanity.
Era after modernism, rejecting their ideas (single truth reached through reason/experience) meta-narratives. Fundamentalist religion and atheism is meta-narrative.
John Caputo: challenge Atheism as fixed decisive denial of God, leave possibility of belief open.
Cultural constructs
No right or wrong religions
commitment to religious pluralism and tolerance. Accept diff. values, cultures, spiritual and religious idea, don't have to conform. Denial of right/wrong, genuine agnosticism if move closer to meta-narratives close self from other.
Religion is personal spiritual search: with no right/wrong we select own mini meta-narratives. Use images from trad. religion ('modern supermarket of faith' James Beckford) eg. new age spirituality. religious/secular blurred.
Cupitt: anti-realist, God idea within believers not external objective being.
Living religion: way of life, faith isn't fact, can't base religion on it, 'god a deed not a thought'
Affirmation of religion.
Threat to religion
Religion threat to modern world: church attendance decline, monarchy symbolic, increased divorce, many govs separate to church.
Postmodern: reject trust in religion,experience,absolute truth/knowledge.
Andrew wright: meta-narratives+claiming to understand structure of reality invalid. Our words don't signify any reality beyond themselves.
We create words so claims mean nothing beyond them, can't offer external knowledge.
Durkheim: religion product of society, what community wants, bring together social group.
Lyotard: meta-narratives local interpretations of nature of reality by individual/culture. eg. Hebrew, God protects because were slaves. Relative/compatible not exclusive/absolute claims.
reject ultimate truth/absolutes rejects religions claims to be exclusive truth
Guinness
'there is no grand narrative on human progress only countless stories of where people and cultures are now'
Promotes 'religion without religion' 'we do not know what we believe in or to whom we're praying'
isolated aspects fit with religion, living out one's faith practically.
Quakers don't conceive god as personal being.
Trad. God omnipotent and transcendent, god not contained in bounds of human knowledge, faith/belief goes along with postmodern embracing mystery.
Atheism needs deconstructing, more accepting of religion.
Christian mysticism fits. William James: ineffability key feature of religious experience, intuitive.
can't access universal truth: contradict key trad. teachings. Even religious pluralism say there is ultimate truth.
Cupitt: anti-realist idea closer to Atheism
practical religion goes with intellectual.
Reject ultimate truth claims hard to declare a faith/ethical codes. Threaten moral absolutes in religion
postmodern methodology: saying there's no absolute truth claim is one itself, enforcing realist outlook.
Pick and mix: no courage/faith, religion not another commodity.

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A Levels Philosophy of Religion and Ethics Note on Retake overview - created from Mind Map, created by laurahartfield on 10/04/2014.

Retake overview - created from Mind Map