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Philosophy Of Religion

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Philosophy of religion is defined as a critical reflection on the justification of religious beliefs and the analysis of the concepts in terms of which those beliefs are expressed. Philosophy is about thinking critically about religion in all of its aspects. Thinking critically about religious beliefs might indicate that they are flawed in a number of ways such as evidence that is inconsistent, contradictory, or insufficient to support the basic claims. The existence of god is one religious belief that had been debated for centuries. Contrasting religious beliefs such as Christianity and Islam make up more than half of the world’s population, both religions believe in a god but disagree on many other aspects of religion. How …show more content…

Rowe brings up the problem of “pointless evil “which I find is one of the best arguments against god’s existence because to me there is really no way around it, taking into consideration the characteristics of a classical theistic god. I believe rowes argument is the most easily understood argument and most influential of its kind He defines pointless evil as evil which god (if he exists) could prevent without thereby preventing a greater good or allowing an equal or greater evil. He doesn’t bring about a greater good or prevent an equal or greater evil. Rowe would agree that we see pointless evils every day in life. Rowe’s arguments basically states that pointless evils exist therefore god does not exist. The case of Bambi is what Rowe uses to demonstrate his meaning of pointless evil. This in my opinion is a perfect example. I don’t believe any objection given renders this case invalid. “In some distant forest lightning strikes a dead tree, resulting in a forest fire. In the fire a fawn is trapped, horribly burned, and lies in terrible agony for several days before death relieves its suffering” (Rowe 1979: 337). A classical theistic god would not allow pointless evils but yet we know they exist. He is faced with two kinds of objections direct and indirect. Direct objections point out goods to which the suffering may well be connected, goods which god could not achieve without permitting suffering. God would only allow as much evil or suffering as is absolutely necessary in order to achieve greater goods. But when we look at the world around us, we find prevalent instances of apparently pointless evils from which no greater good seems to result. According to proponents of Rowe’s argument, the existence of apparently gratuitous evil provides strong evidence that God (as traditionally defined) does not exist. An indirect

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