RP Themes Revision (Exluding theme B)

RP Themes Revision (B, C, D, F)

By Nouman Sami

THEME C

God and Revelation

In the Abrahamic Religions, ‘classical theism’ usually refers to the doctrine of God. He is believed to be:

• Monotheistic / Simple: No other Gods but him

• Omnipotent: He is all-powerful.

• Omnibenevolent: He is all-good.

• Omniscient: He is all-knowing.

• Omnipresent: He is everywhere(including within this world - immanent)

• Personal: God is spoken of with human terms such as ‘Kind’ or ‘sitting on his throne’.

• Transcendent: Outside of time and space.​

Nature of God

Explain two religious views about the belief that God is omnipotent/omniscient/personal/immanent/transcendent. (+quote if 5 marker)

Multiple Choice

Which one of the following describes God as all-knowing?

• Omnipotent

• Omniscient

• Personal

• Immanent

Problem of Evil Recap

Mackie's Inconsistent Triad

​According to Mackie, all three things cannot exist as it would be a contradiction.

Rebuttal

Theists would say evil is necessary for freewill and an Omnibenevolent God would want a world that maximises this freewill​

But if evil is permitted, why do we have so much of it? This is voltaire's argument, but of course Liebnitz comes to save the day.

Open Ended

Explain two reasons why someone may claim that God doesn't exist. Then give two reasons why someone may claim that God does exist.

This is the knowledge of god that is divinely disclosed in the universe generally via the natural world. This information can be found in creation, through empiricism or rationalism.

Arguments such as the First Cause(cosmological) argument and the design(teleological) argument are based on general revelation, which both conclude with the existence of a God.

General

Knowledge of God revealed through mystical experiences.

If the revelation is seen to be reliable and true, these individuals are regarded to be “divinely inspired” saints, mystics, prophets and or sages

Special

Special and General Revelation

Multiple Choice

Which of these is NOT special revelation

• The 10 commandments

• The Quran

• 99 Names

• Design

General Revelation Only

Plato, Aristotle (deists) & Descartes (a theist) suggested that general revelation provides sufficient knowledge about God’s existence and special revelation is not required or equally available to everyone. (a rationalistic view)​.

Special Revelation Only

Islamic Salafis & Protestants such as Martin Luther argue that we cannot know anything about God via general revelation. We cannot & should not trust our reason & instead trust special revelations recorded in the Scriptures. (a fidestic view)

Special Revelation Only

Thomas Aquinas & Al Ghazali argue that we can obtain knowledge about God’s nature & existence from general revelation via First Cause and Design arguments but these do not provide salvation or full wisdom and must be supplemented by special revelations from sacred scriptures.

Multiple Choice

Which of these does NOT think special revelation is needed for understanding God?

• Descartes

• Salafis

• Aquinas

• Martin Luther

The First Cause Argument

Everything that came into existence, including the universe, has a cause. The cause of the universe must be uncaused (because an infinite regression cannot exist). This uncaused cause is God.

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Strengths of the Argument

Proves the existence of God without relying on special revelation or fideism. Proofs come from the synthetic world around us.​

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The Cosmological Argument doesn’t prove the theistic, Classical Theism God. From the Cosmological Argument, we cannot tell whether this God is one or many, as that fits with the argument, or even if God is omnipotent or omniscient, because we cannot tell this from just knowing that he is eternal.

Doesn't Prove One God

Existence is a synthetic claim(proven through senses) not an analytic claim(proven through rationality), thus existence can't be proven using rationalism, only empiricism. Therefore, just because there could be a God, the argument doesn't prove a God actually does exist and is the cause. This argument is just begging the question, as the argument is trying to prove God, by depending on God’s existence.​

Hidden Ontological

Weaknesses of First Cause

Open Ended

You tell me: What are the weaknesses of the First Cause Argument?

The Design Argument

There is design in the universe. Design needs a designer. The designer, in order to create such a universe, needs to be omniscient and omnipotent. Therefore God(the designer) exists.

​

Strengths of the Argument (same as before)

Proves the existence of God without relying on special revelation or fideism. Proofs come from the synthetic world around us.​

​

Another criticism of the argument is that you don’t need God to fill in the gaps, as we can’t use our rationalism to work out if he exists in the first place. Instead, science has a far simpler theory, which we can see and observe synthetically, which is evolution by natural selection. This means that we don’t necessarily need to have God to be the designer, science says that it is all chance.

God of the Gaps

This argument is flawed because it shifts from synthetic claims to analytic claims, when it starts to say that if there is design, there must be a designer. Even though there must be a designer in one’s mind, it doesn’t mean that it actually exists. Similar to the Cosmological Argument, the Teleological Argument tries to use rationalism to prove God’s existence.

Hidden Ontological

Weaknesses of First Cause

Open Ended

'Special Revelation Cannot Prove that God exists' - Write an Essay Plan

Miracles

William James' Criteria

A miracle is 'a violation of the normal operations or laws of nature owing to actions or intervention of a deity either directly or indirectly(via a prophet)'. They are a special revelation.

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William James had 4 criteria to describe miracles:

• Ineffable - cannot be explained in words.

• Noetic - providing divine knowledge.

• Transient - temporary.

• Passive - happening to the person.

Multiple Select

What do Miracles Show?

• God's power

• God's Divine Nature

• Some can hint to the Life after Death

Liberal Christians and Kalamists, like Rudolph Bultmann, interpret them non-literally and figuratively - as a myth/story with a moral/value.

Liberals

Fideists, such as Salafis and conservative Christians, generally interpret them as literally true. They happened as described.

Mystics, such as sufis, often interpret them as visions or dreams that reveal a hidden truth.​

Fideists / Mystics

Interpreting Miracles

Night of Power,

Night Journey,

Splitting of the Moon.​

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Islam

Jesus had many miracles: miracles of healing give information about the afterlife, hinting towards the fact that after death, life will be perfect and there will be no more sins. Resurrection miracles also reveal the Afterlife; it’s a sign for what’s to come.

Christianity

Examples of Miracles

David Hume's Refusal of them

David Hume believed that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” He said that people who have miracles have a vested interest to deceive or to be deceived. He also thinks that people with miracles lack expertise, and all the religions will cancel each other out, if miracles are true.

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However, Hume commits ad hominem and is over-generalising. Also, the miracle claimant can still tell the truth, despite their lack of credibility.

In addition, William James disagrees with Hume as all these miracles are ineffable, noetic, passive and transient. If the person shows positive effects, then it gives it more credibility.

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Richard Swinburne developed the Principle of Credulity - we believe something it is proven wrong - and Principle of Testimony - we generally tell the truth.

Open Ended

Explain two contrasting beliefs in contemporary British society about religious visions. (+quote if 5 marker)

Theme D

Peace and Conflict

Religion as a Cause of War

Some people argue that religion is the main reason wars happen, especially wars such as the Crusades or recent Islamist wars by ISIS and other terrorist groups.

However, others would disagree and say that less than 10% of wars had a primary cause being religion, meaning that religion isn't the main reason people go to war. In fact, religious concepts such as Just War and Lesser Jihad try to minimise war and promote peace and pacifism being completely against war.

Religion as a Solution to War

There are many religious charities such that aim to promote peace and act as a solution to war:

• Pax Christi - A reconciliation movement started after WW2.

• Christian Aid - Providing aid to civilians whose lives had been ruined by war and to take care of refugees who have fled from warzones.

• Islamic Relief - A charity helping refugees such as in Syria, providing food, healthcare etc.

In general, Muslims and Christians believe in Justice, and so therefore we must be forgiving and try to promote peace instead of starting wars. For Muslims, their zakat(pillar of Islam, annual amount of money given to the needy) goes towards helping the poor and providing peace.​

Christian Pacifism

It is mentioned in many parts of the Bible that Jesus adopted a pacifistic view on war, opposing from the old testament where the saying, 'an eye for an eye' came from. In fact, Jesus taught to 'turn the other cheek' rather than to fight back, which is why many Christians, especially from that time period, were pacifists. Currently, Quakers follow strict pacifism, basing everything on agape (love) - "love your neighbour".

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The Law of Reciprocation

Pacifists follow the 'golden rule' of “doing unto others as you would have them to you”, so because one wouldn't like to be a victim of war themselves, they wouldn't declare war on others. If everyone followed this principle, there would be no warfare, therefore pacifists reject retributive justice which is where someone who commits a wrong-doing must be punished for it (capital punishment).

This is completely opposite to the law of retribution (lex talionis) in the Old Testament where “If anyone injures another person, whatever he has done shall be done to him.", which is completely different to what was written in the New Testament.

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Criticisms

It is very difficult for a person to refrain themselves from fighting back against violence and injustice, "an eye for an eye" - lex talionis. Therefore, it is unreasonable to say that everyone will be able to follow pacifism as humans have a selfish and egoistic nature due to original sin (as realists would argue).

In some circumstances, not defending yourself can be a form of cowardice; it is necessary to resist physically if it is a form of self-defense.​

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Open Ended

Give two reasons why a religious believer might not fight in a war

Christian Just War

The Just War theory is a Roman Catholic response to war which sits within teleological frameworks and following the 5 precepts of Natural Law, meaning that it is not consequentialist, but rather deontological and teleological. Aquinas developed conditions for the rights within war, so only wars that bring about peace are allowed to be performed.

Catholic Christians would argue that war is sometimes necessary in order to achieve peace, but cannot be used as a form of ambition in any way.

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​Holy Wars

A holy war is where people fight in the name of their religion. This could be to protect their religion or to even promote it. The Crusades was a holy war.

Conditions for a Just War

Rights to War ('Jus ad Bellum')

A just war must:

• Be started by a right Authority

• Have a just Cause; i.e. self-defense

• Be with right Intention; the telos is peace

• Have a high Probability of success

• Be a last Resort

• Be fought with a Proportional degree of force(also a right within war)

Rights within War ('Jus in Bello')

A just war must:

• Have a Distinction between civilians and soldiers.

• Be fought with a Proportional degree of force

Open Ended

What are the conditions for a Just War (list EVERYTHING you remember)

Christian Pacifism

Generally, realism is accepting the fact that pacifism won't stop wars because as humans, we have a selfish nature and therefore, peace can never be attained. This also means that the Just War theory doesn't fit with realism either, as it is too difficult to use in practice without breaking the conditions.

Realists therefore try focusing on a more consequential approach, applying situation ethics to suggest whether a war should be carried out or not.

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Reinhold Niebuhr's Realism

Reinhold Niebuhr was a Christian realist. He disagreed with the theories of Pacifism and Just War because:

Humans are selfish/egoistic due to Original Sin, so Jesus' pacifist ideal is unreasonable.

The Just War theory can be manipulated and is open to subjectivity.

Peace is a myth; we are in a constant state of warring nature.

This view is justified by texts that emphasise the sinfulness of humanity in the New Testament.

Additionally, Niebuhr critiques the realpolitik (political realism), and instead, we should use situation ethics and agape.

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Criticisms

There are however verses such as, 'blessed are the peacemakers', which Niebuhr ignores and underplays the role of the Holy Spirit in eradicating sin and enabling humans to act virtuously.

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Open Ended

"Religion is the cause of all wars" - Plan an Essay

Jihad

Islam promotes peace, which is why the word 'Islam' means 'peace'. Muslims believe that they can bring about this peace in many ways, such as prayer and forms of worship, as well as working with others to promote a more peaceful existence. However, the Qur'an does also mention war. "Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress."

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​2 types of Jihad

Jihad is an arabic word that literally means 'struggle'. Mainstream Islam has two types of Jihad: greater and lesser Jihad.

The greater Jihad is the struggle Muslims face on a day-to-day basis, refraining from sin and maintaining their state of fitrah(purity).

The lesser Jihad is the military Jihad, which is used in self-defense and follows a list of conditions, similar to Just War.

One other type of Jihad, Offensive Jihad, is not an ideology believed by Muslims, but it is where Islam is forced upon non-believers.

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Islamic Pacifism

Some Sufis are pacifists, following beliefs similar to Ghandi and a lot of them are conditional pacifists, only using war when it's a last resort and completely necessary. Strict pacifism is mainly not followed, due to there being many passages in the Qur'an mentioning lesser Jihad and military action.

Draw

Draw out a mind map for Jihad from Memory

Conditions for a Lesser Jihad

• ​It must be authorised by a religious leader (an imam) not a political one.

• The war must only be fought in self-defense

• The war must be fought to protect the rights of the Ummah & freedom of worship from unjust oppression

• The war must only be fought until the enemy lays down arms & enemy prisoners must be treated fairly.

• The war must discriminate between combatants & civilians, not involve women, children, elderly or ill.

• Trees, crops and livestock must not be deliberately damaged or destroyed

Multiple Choice

Which of these is a condition for Lesser Jihad but NOT Just War

• Self Defense

• Last Resort

• Discrimination between civilians and soldiers

• Trees protected

WoMDs

Arguments For

• Nuclear weapons serve as a deterrent to ensure peace. In fact, many wars were settled because of nuclear weapons just posing too big of a risk; they can keep countries from fighting each other.

• Nuclear weapons can be used as a self-defense weapon if the country is under attack.

• A nuclear weapon can eliminate a lot of people in a short amount of time, so in a utilitarian perspective, it can provide the most pleasure overall to the most people.

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Arguments Against

• Nuclear weapons have long-term health issues and can have devastating environmental impacts, as well as the obvious loss of life.

• Nuclear weapons are costly and this money can be better spent for things such as healthcare.

  Many religious believers are against WoMDs:

  Christians believe in the Sanctity of Life, yet nuclear warfare is completely against it.

• It opposes a fundamental condition of both Just War and Lesser Jihad: to make sure that there is a discrimination between civilians and soldiers (and the environment in the case of Islam).

Open Ended

Explain two contrasting religious beliefs about nuclear weapons.