ipl-logo

Mccloskey's Essay 'On Being An Atheist'

1826 Words8 Pages

We live in a world that is quickly becoming a more secular and atheistic society. The Pew Research Center did a study on atheists in America, and they concluded that the number of Americans who identify as atheists has doubled in a fairly short amount of time. As Christian’s, we are confronted with the task of contending for our faith, and always having a reason to believe what we do. In H. J. McCloskey’s article “On Being an Atheist,” he explores why he believes these reasons for our belief are insufficient, delving into the cosmological, teleological and existence of evil. The atheistic worldview is not a sufficient means of meaning and joy, but the Christian worldview is the most reasonable view.

Although you can not find a proof for God’s …show more content…

McCloskey posits that the existence of the universe is not a sufficient reason to believe in a necessary being (God) to be its cause. However, this position of his can be counter argued with the argument from contingency. This basically states that if all the parts of the universe as a whole are essentially contingent upon nothing; meaning that they exist but are not necessary to exist. They could very well have never existed at all, which leads to the question of why it is they exist in the first place. If the cause of it being in existence is dependent on something else that is also contingent than you will get what McCloskey mentions a “regress of causes”. Therefore, the very existence of something that is contingent argues for something that isn’t contingent to be its cause. Evans, and Manis, in their book Philosophy of Religion, state “A necessary being is the only kind of being whose existence requires no further explanation. In short, there is an ultimate explanation for the existence of a contingent being only if there exists a necessary being.” This necessary being (God) cannot have a cause because if he did that would make him contingent. If he were contingent, he would not be God. Evans & Manis mention that “only a self-existent or necessary being can qualify for the title of “God,” and it makes no sense to ask about the cause of such a being.” McCloskey’s statement in his article that this doesn’t “postulate an all-powerful, all-perfect, uncaused cause” though is correct in some regard, in that is doesn’t sufficiently grant us all the attributes of God – it begs the curious mind to desire to learn more about the nature of

Show More
Related
2566 Words | 11 Pages

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

Read More
1636 Words | 7 Pages

Response Paper Liberty University Online Kaitlin Camden Rose October 12, 2017   In February of 1968, H.J. McCloskey published an article titled “On Being an Atheist” This short article skims the surface on the viewpoints of atheists and their beliefs that God does not exist. In this article McCloskey shares his opinions in which he believes that he has a strong response and defense against Christians by stating that Christians are unable to provide any solid evidence or any arguments that there is, in fact, a God. He goes on to judge and tears apart the Christian’s cosmological and teleological theories. McCloskey debates that the opinions, beliefs and faith of Christians are all erroneous and he powerfully approaches his arguments

Read More
513 Words | 3 Pages

84). Thus if something being unable to cause itself means there is a first cause, which must necessarily be God that causes the universe. Goldstein’s argument instead argues that since the universe cannot cause itself (Premise 4), something outside universe must have caused the universe to exist. Goldstein’s framework is far weaker, particularly after her 4th premise, as it falls into a range of fallacies and presumptions. Indeed Goldstein’s framing reads as a simplification of the cosmological argument designed to be easier to criticised.

Read More
1287 Words | 6 Pages

Disproving Christianity and Other Secular Writings seeks to expose the “fallacies, improbabilities, and contradictions created by the Christian tradition” (para. 1), promising to establish such contentions with biblical evidence (para. 2). After exhibiting these contentions, McAfee purposes to establish the conclusion “that the words of The Holy Bible, and therefore the teaching of the Christian community, cannot be a representation of an omnipotent Creator” (p. 109). Accordingly, this critique will examine these assertions, demonstrating that although McAfee presents a fervent rant against the

Read More
233 Words | 1 Pages

Horace Mann was a man who changed the education system for ever. He proposed six new principles for the education of children, 1. citizens cannot maintain both ignorance and freedom, 2. education should be paid for and publically run, 3. education should be provided that embrace children from varying backgrounds, 4.

Read More
1745 Words | 7 Pages

Atheist H.J McCloskey, author of a profound piece of literature called, “On Being an Atheist” displayed a strong personal belief on why he believes that there is no God. In McCloskey article, he attempts to persuade his readers on the idea that any religion that believes in a supreme being is foolish and that the best way to interpret our world is through the concept of Atheism. Ultimately, McCloskey believes that those who base their thinking on rationale tangible evidence will strive to greater achievements than those who base their thinking on moral belief. Though the opinions of McCloskey and myself differentiate, he provides solid evidence, which challenges myself as a Christian reader to not only dig deeper in my faith but also provide

Read More
871 Words | 4 Pages

The objection addressed the validity of the argument which had the premise 1, nothing is the efficient cause of itself except God and premise 2, a chain of causes cannot be infinite. The argument thus concludes there must be a first cause. This conclusion agrees with my thesis that Saint Thomas Aquinas’s argument formulated in the second way leads to a valid argument, which concludes that there must be a first cause and that God

Read More
1793 Words | 8 Pages

Invalid Cosmological Argument There are many philosophical proofs for the existence of God. Each one relies on your spiritual intuition to just know that God exists. In this essay, I will be explaining and arguing against Thomas Aquinas’ cosmological argument for the existence of God. This argument says that everything in the world has to have a cause, but nothing can be caused unless it is caused by something else.

Read More
1307 Words | 6 Pages

Richard Taylor’s Cosmological Argument consists of many aspects that explain conditions in which God, the universe, the earth and all the other planets, and the living beings of Earth, exist. As Taylor stated there is really only a sufficient reason as to why something exists in which he follows up by stating that the universe requires an explanation as to why it exists. This means though people who don’t really think about why the universe does exist or how it exists, but there is a reason as to how it came to be or why it exists. This is where sufficient reason comes in. It helps give an explanation to something that exists.

Read More
76 Words | 1 Pages

Are you tired of driving miles and wasting hours in queue just to see your doctor? It does not have to be like that anymore. Introducing PriveMD.

Read More
2349 Words | 10 Pages

This paper will discuss the problem of evil. In the first part, I will discuss Walter Sinnott-Armstrong’s atheist stance and William Lane Craig’s theist stance on the problem of evil. In the final part of this paper, I will argue that Walter Sinnott-Armstrong’s argument is stronger. The Problem of Evil

Read More
1797 Words | 8 Pages

So the first cause argument proves that God does not exist assuming the first cause argument is sound then there must be some other cause because it is not God. In summary the notion of omnipotent is a miss-name because it implies the potency, power, causality when in fact all that it does is imply logical entailment, it implies that if it wills something you can deduce from the statement that something exists, you do not need a causal step, it is a logical deduction and therefore the first cause argument argues from causes in the world

Read More
1444 Words | 6 Pages

There have been an innumerable amount of arguments for the existence of God for hundreds of years. Some have become much more popular due to their merit, and their ability to stay relevant through changing times. Two arguments in particular that have been discussed for a very long time are the ontological and cosmological arguments. Each were proposed in the period of the high middle ages by members of the Roman Catholic Church. They each have been used extensively by many since their introduction.

Read More
1784 Words | 8 Pages

The traditional claim of all Cosmological Arguments is defined as “something outside the universe is responsible to explain the existence of the universe” (PowerPoint 380). In the “causal argument,” or the First Cause Argument on the cosmological argument, “something” outside of the universe that is supposed to inform us about the existence of the universe is argued to be explained as God. As the first cause argument goes into depth and with the help of Thomas Aquinas, it is easy to see how God is responsible for explaining the existence of the universe around us. Within the first cause argument on the cosmological argument the following premises and conclusions are discussed: Premise 1: There exists things that are caused. Meaning that

Read More
915 Words | 4 Pages

In his first-cause argument, he states that everything we are able to observe has a cause and that nothing can cause itself. In order for something to cause itself, it would have to exist prior to itself, which is impossible. Nor can something be caused by an infinite regress of causes. (Vaughn, Lewis. Pg.

Read More

More about Mccloskey's Essay 'On Being An Atheist'

Related Topics

Open Document