H. J Mccloskey Response Paper

Response Paper:

In the article “On Being an Atheist” by H.J McCloskey, the author presented his argument that many atheist and theist have debated over years and he argued the existence of God from the view of an atheist. The thoughts that McCloskey debated in his article were very interesting but did not show validity in the points that were made and he did not completely bring out the points of the argument of there being no God. In the article, McCloskey argued against three different theistic proofs from an atheist perspective, and the three theistic arguments are cosmological, theological, the argument about design. In McCloskey article, he presents the arguments of God and renames them “proofs”, concluding that this is not enough evidence

McCloskey differs from the belief of the teleological argument and claims “to get the proof going, genuine indisputable examples of design and purpose are needed” (McCloskey pg. 65). The argument shows that the universe exhibits an order of design and infers that its cause, therefore, must have a Creator. (Evans & Manis pg. 77) The cosmos is in a precise order and it has reason to why the earth came into existence the way it is. McCloskey believes that the argument is unsatisfactory in the belief of the existence of God and he uses the theory of evolution for his explanation of why the earth came into being. McCloskey claims that this argument has no such “indisputable examples” and that they are needed to get the proof going. He also calls this “very conclusive objection.” and claims that one cannot legitimately argue from this sort of evidence (McCloskey pg. 64). McCloskey, claims he is an atheist does not believe there’s a designer. Evolution is based on a Charles Darwin and primarily difficult to understand because there is not actual proof of the earth that from once a ball a fire turned into such beautiful and unique creation. The human body is a complex being that shows evidence how every part of a human body works perfectly together and has millions of cells that are so unique. Every human being has their own DNA

65). The argument of evil and the existence of God is where a lot of people turn away from theism and McCloskey does not find this reasonable argument for the existence of God. He does not believe that a perfect creator could have created a world that contains such evil and he provides all kinds of way for explaining evil. It is hard to understand that there is an omnipotent being and there continues to be evil in this world. Most believe for a God to exist there must get rid of every ounce of evil in this world and that every good being should eliminate evil. According to Evan and Manis, they state “[some philosophers state] it is a contradiction to claim both that a perfectly good, all-knowing, all-powerful being exist and that evil exist” (Evan & Manis pg. 158). For the logical form of this problem, it is thought to be understood and their premise of this argument that God must eradicate evil. The existence of God and the presence of evil does not contradict each other. The evil that God permits is justified because allowing evil makes the possible of a greater good or the prevention of a worse evil. (Evan & Manis pg. 160). In many cases, for the possibility of something good, something evil has to come out it at first. McCloskey mentions that no being in the world could have created