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PHIL 201 Research Paper
Philosophy and Contemporary Ideas (Liberty
University)
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Response Paper
Elijah Walters
PHIL 201
March 9, 2019
1
H.J. Mccloskey wrote the article "On Being an Atheist" in 1968 for the journal Question.
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Mccloskey is a well-known author of numerous literary works. Mccloskey is also an outspoken
critic of the idea of there Jesus Christ and God existing and has written many articles on this
subject.
It can be easy to see why H.J. Mccloskey argues that having no belief in any particular
religion is better than Christianity. Instead of labeling the existence of God a credible argument,
Mccloskey calls the case a proof. The difference between a plausible argument and a proof is
that a proof lacks sufficient evidence to back up the claim, therefore making it weak and reliable.
The case that God and Jesus genuinely exist merely is NOT a proof because many archeological
finds prove Jesus did exist and that what the Bible says is correct and the Bible clearly states the
existence of God. As stated in this article, Mccloskey discusses the teleological, cosmological,
and argument from design proofs. Mccloskey argues in a way that shows he is looking for more
than an intellectual discussion; instead, he pokes and prods at Christians for believing in the
Gospel. In order to get someone to listen to an argument, especially one that could change their
entire worldview, it would be better to appeal to the listener rather than taunting them.
In his cosmological argument, Mccloskey believes that just because the universe itself
exists, proves that there is no need for a creator such as God. In simple terms, the world exists,
so God is unnecessary. There is a problem to this cause and effect rationalization if the world
only existed instead of being created, then everything would be utterly meaningless. Evans and
Manis present a compelling argument with strong evidence that speaks against this claim made
by Mccloskey.
2
In response to Mccloskey's idea that God doesn't exist just because the world does, Evans
and Manis offer an explanation that is deemed worthwhile for an accusation that is made by
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another party. What gives their evidence and argument strength is that they do not argue on
how old the world is and how God came into existence. They state that God coming into
existence, and how He even exists, is too incomprehensible for a human to fathom and therefore
no one will know how He came about, and we should just assume He has always existed.
While Mccloskey makes his cosmological argument, it is also quite imperative not to
forget the teleological argument that is presented in his article. In this part of his discussion,
Mccloskey says that to have strong evidence in the debate of God's existence, the evidence must
have indisputable examples of design and purpose. What this claim means, is that the evidence
presented to prove God's existence should not waiver or be able to be argued that is false in any
situation. One way that Mccloskey weakens his case in this debate is that he takes the theory of
evolution as truth rather than just a theory, and is unable to prove any organism development
through this idea.
While the evidence Evans and Manis produce to show that God created the universe is
not deemed truly indisputable by everybody, they do create a compelling argument with it. They
claim that there are many instances in nature that display design and any design requires a
designer. An example of this would be a painter designing a painting. Paintings don't just
appear out of thin air; they need a skilled artist to develop and create them. In this argument, God
is the painter while the universe and everything in it is His beautiful masterpiece.
3
Another point Mccloskey makes to try and explain away the need for God is that because
of evolution God was not needed to design living creatures, time and natural selection did that.
On the other hand, Evans and Manis argue that even if evolution did occur the way Darwin says
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it did, it would still need a divine hand to guide the process. They say that if there were nothing
to keep the progress of nature in check, such as God does, then nature would become
inconsistent with its development.
Mccloskey goes on to argue that God does not exist because there is evil in the world,
and that no perfect and flawless creator would ever create a world where evil exists. This is a
prevalent argument used to either say that God does not exist or that He is not as great and
powerful as Christians and the Bible says He is. The reason many people believe this claim is
because they choose to ignore that humans brought sin and evil into the world, and they do not
acknowledge humans are not able to understand why God let's bad things happen. God allows
evil and bad things happen to people because humans brought it upon themselves and God uses
those hardships to try and bring people closer to Him and to make them better people in the
process. Also if people were to dwell and think about this issue honestly, they would realize
that without the evil in the world they would not be able to distinguish between what is right
and what is wrong, and no one would have free will.
One of the final points that Mccloskey makes is that if God created man and the
universe, wouldn't he have made man to always choose what is right instead of being able to
choose between right and wrong. This claim is false because if God made people always choose
right
4
then, our free will would be a fallacy, and he created us to worship Him out of choice, not
because He forces us to worship Him.
Even with all of the evidence that God exists and created the world, Mccloskey still finds
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the beliefs of atheism more comforting than the beliefs of theism. He finds that trusting in what
he can see and what he thinks makes much more sense than Christians placing their faith and
hope in a God they can't always see. In the end, I find myself comforted that I have set my faith
in God and what He has planned for me, rather than ignoring His existence and believing life to
be only temporary and meaningless.
