Tag: Theism

Isn’t all religion anti-intellectual?

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Quite some time ago, a NY Times columnist, Ross Douthat wrote a book called “Bad Religion”. He went on the show of militant atheist Bill Maher and I found their conversation really enlightening.

In particular, at one point Maher asks “Isn’t all religion anti-intellectual?” and Douthat gave what I thought was a really great answer.

My favourite part though was when Douthat talks a little bit about how our understanding of the human person radically alters our perception of abuses of religion.

I’d invite you to check out the video and see how Douthat calmly responds to Mayers questions with clear, logical responses.

The Moral Argument

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Before I took a break for Advent I posted a quotation from Ravi Zacharias which related to what is known as “The Moral Argument” for the existence of God. I had intended to do a longer post on this subject at some point in the future because I think it’s one of the more interesting arguments in favour of theism.

While on Facebook these last few weeks, I was talking with an atheist and, try as I might, I couldn’t get him to even understand the argument itself.

Was I saying that atheists couldn’t tell the difference between right and wrong? No.

Was I saying that atheists were incapable of doing good deeds? No.

In the end I found the following video from Reasonable Faith. Although it didn’t appear to help in that particular conversation, I think it’s one of the most accessible explanations of this argument for the existence of God:

The Problem of pain

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One of the books I read on my sabbatical was Jesus Among Other gods by Ravi Zacharias. The part of the book which I found most engaging was the chapter in which he addresses the problem of evil and suffering. Over the next week or so, I’ll be posting a few short extracts from the book from this section, together with a comment or two.

The “Problem of pain” is an understandably common reason given by Agnostics and Atheists for doubting or even denying the existence of God. However, as Zacharias points out, one can only really talk about the problem of pain if there is a moral law:

…[some] protest that God cannot exist because there is too much evil evident in life… [The Atheist says that] evil exists; therefore the Creator does not…

But here, Christianity provides a counterchallenge… If evil exists, then one must assume that good exists in order to know the difference. If good exists, one must assume that a moral law exists by which to measure good and evil.

– Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other gods

Okay, so to talk about “good” and “evil”, a moral law must exist. So what? How does that point to theism?

But if a moral law exists, must not one posit an ultimate source of moral law, or at least an objective basis for a moral law? By an objective basis, I mean something that is transcendently true at all times, regardless of whether I believe it or not. 

– Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other gods

What could possibly be the objective basis of this law? The Theist answers “God”.

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