3.1- Believing in God

Religious Upbringing¦Religious Experience

baptism - promise to bring up children to believe in God, be good Catholics and welcome into the Church teach children to pray - parents would not waste time praying to nothing teach children to believe in God - they will believe their parents take children to Mass - seeing so many worshiping God will make them believe that he exists  Sunday school - to learn about Jesus, God and the Church Catholic school - educated in the christian faith and teachers will validate God's existence confirmation - encouraged to renew baptism vows children brought up following a religion they have not chosen themselves takes away right to religious freedom may work against community cohesion as children think that followers of other religions are wrong

Conversion - causes you to change beliefs and lifestyle and feel like God is calling you to do something Prayer - if the person feels like prayer is answered then they are more likely to believe he exists Miracle - you will look for an explanation for the event and if it is a miracle, you will start believing in God Numinous - feel there is something greater which may lead them to believe in God a numinous experience is caused by your surroundings and may have nothing to do with God all miracles can be explained, e.g. Jesus may never have been dead in the first place and just recovered they are more unanswered prayers than answered so this proves God must not exist

Design Argument     ¦ Causation Argument

Anything designed needs a designer Plenty of evidence, e.g. DNA, Laws of science(gravity) If the world was designed then there must be a designer Therefore God is real as he is the only one who could have designed something this wonderful no designer would have created things like volcanoes science can explain the appearance of design without needing God does not explain how dinosaurs could have been part of design plan the argument proves that there is a designer but does not prove that it is God

Anything made must have a cause - modern science shows that causes have effects and vice versa  This means that the universe, world and humans must have a cause God is the only logical cause of the universe Therefore God must be real fits in with common sense - something cannot come from nothing makes sense of ourselves and the universe - explains how and why we are here fits in with science that everything must have a cause - so the universe(an effect) must have a cause(God) there must be a beginning or first cause - argument explains that God started off the universe does not prove that God is the cause science proves that the Big Bang was the cause God must also need a cause even if there was a first cause it may not be the God of any particular religion

Scientific Explanations of the World

Matter is eternal About 15 billion years ago, the universe's matter exploded(Big Bang Theory); red shift in light from other galaxies is evidence the universe is still expanding As the universe's matter flew away from the explosion, it formed stars and then our solar system Gases on Earth's surface produced primitive life Genetic structure of these primitive life-forms led to evolution of new life-forms, about 2.5 million years ago, humans evolved and their is evidence e.g. fossils show new life-forms; genetic research shows life-form similarities(50% of human DNA is the same as a cabbage) Agnosticism - if science can explain the universe and humans without God, no longer need God to explain reason for our existence Atheism - if god existed, he must have made the world and be the only explanation. The way science explains the world and humans proves God does not exist

Only God could have made the Big Bang at exactly the right microsecond to form the universe Only God could have made laws like gravity which the matter of the Big Bang needed to form solar systems Only God could have made the gases on Earth react in such a way to form life Some Catholics believe both explanations are correct; main points fit in with science e.g. one of  God's days could be millions of years If God existed, he would be the only explanation; the fact science can explain the world and humans without God is proof Big Bang was an accident; no evidence it was God An omnipotent and omniscient God would not have created the world in such a wasteful way with species developing and dying over billions of years just so humans could arrive

Unanswered Prayers

If people say their prayers but never feel God's presence, they may feel there is no one listening; leads to agnosticism, or even atheismReligious people believe that God answers prayers and often hear about prayer's being answered, if theirs are not answered they may feel that God does not like them or does not existIf someone has been a good Catholic (attending mass on Sundays and holy days and following the teachings  of the Church) but pray to cure their sick child and their child dies, that person may lose faith in God If someone's prayers are unanswered, especially for something like the end of of droughts, human suffering in wars, etc. This is because they may think God could not exist if lets such things continue

If you pray selfishly like for passing an exam without work, God will let you fail so you work hard next time Your prayer may be answered in an unorthodox fashion because God has different plans e.g. he may want an ill person to enter heaven  Just like a human parent, God may answer by giving you want you need rather than what you asked for Catholics believe that God loves people and so they believe God's love will answer in the best possible way, even though it may not look like a direct answer Catholics have faith that God will answer all prayers in the best way for the person praying or the people prayed for, even if it is different from what they expected Christians believe that God is their loving heavenly father who will answer all prayers, so if he does not answer them he cannot exist Christians are told about answered prayers but there are far more unanswered prayers. A good God would not only answer a few prayers therefore it is unlikely he exists If there was a God he would answer the prayers of good religious people and there would be no starvation, wars, etc. The prayers of such people are clearly not answered, so God must not exist

Evil and Suffering

If God is omnipotent he must be able to remove evil and suffering from the world If God is omni-benevolent he must want to remove evil and suffering from the world It follows that, if God exists, there should be no evil or suffering Also there is evil and suffering in he world, either God is not all-good and powerful or he does not exist If God is omniscient he must have known the evil and suffering that would come from creating the universe so he should have created it in a way that avoided this Most religious people believe that God is omnipotent, omni-benevolent and omniscient. So the existence of suffering challenges their beliefs about God For many believers, evil and suffering become a problem if they experience it (e.g. an earthquake); it can change them into an atheist or an agnostic

Many believe from the Bible that God must have a reason for allowing evil and suffering but humans cannot understand; so the correct response of Catholics is to follow the example of Jesus to fight against evil and suffering by praying and helping those who suffer. Many claim, by giving humans free will, God made a world in which evil and suffering will come about by humans misusing their free will ; evil and suffering is a problem caused by humans, not God Many believe evil and suffering involved in this life are not a problem as this life is a preparation for paradise; people, to improve their souls, need to face evil and suffering in order to have the chance to become good Some claim God has a reason for not using his power to remove evil and suffering but humans cannot understand it; God is divine and there is no way humans can understand his thoughts If God is omnipotent, he must be able to remove E & S/ If God is omni-benevolent, he must want to remove E & S from the world; if God exists, there should be no evil or suffering - as there is evil and suffering in the world, God must not exists  A good God would not have designed the world with flood, earthquakes, volcanoes, cancers, etc. These cannot be blamed on humans and so they are evidence that God did not create the world and so does not exist An all-powerful God would not humans like Stalin and Hitler to cause so much suffering, so as individual humans have caused lots of suffering, God cannot exist

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