(d) “Answered prayers prove that God exists”
I) Do you agree? Give reasons for your opinion (3)
ii) Give reasons why some people may disagree with you (refer to one religion) (3)
- No I don’t agree with the statement above as these answered prayer could be just chance and may have nothing to do with God. For example if someone prays for a cancer victim to get well, they could just go into remission. There can always be natural explanations for a prayer appearing to be answered, and if there can be a natural explanation, then answered prayers cannot prove that God exists.
- a) What is free will?
Free will is an idea that human beings are free to make their own choices
b) Do you think that programmes or films about religion can affect a person’s beliefs about God? Give two reasons for your point of view (4 marks)
Can affect:
- Use three pieces of evidence from a programme to show how it might have encouraged some people to believe in God
- OR give three reasons why the programme affected your own attitude to belief in Go
c) Explain why religious experience may lead some people to believe in God (8 marks)
- If you become aware of a presence greater than you in a numinous experience, you will believe that God must exist
- If you experience something that seems to break all the laws of science, and the only explanation you can think of is God, you will start believing in God.
- If a person prays and their prayer is answered ( for example, when someone prays for sick loved one to recover and they do) they will believe God must exist
d) “There is no evidence that God’s exists.”
- Do you agree? Give reasons for your opinion (3)
- Give reasons why some people may disagree with you (refer to one religion) (3)
Science explains all the evidence for design, etc., much better than God, so there is no evidence in the world for God’s existence. People’s experiences of God cannot be regarded as evidence because most people who say God speaks to them are locked away in mental hospitals for being deranged. Finally, the evidence of religion is not evidence at all because some religions say God is one, some say he is a Omni-benevolent, omnipotent and, some say there are many gods, and there is no evidence to say which religion is correct
What is moral evil? (2)
Actions done by humans which cause suffering
What name is given to people who believe there is no God (2)
Atheist
Do you think miracles prove that God exists? (4)
I do not think miracles prove that God exists because all miracles can be explained. For example, Jesus was not dead when he was taken down from the cross. Also miracles rely on the evidence of eye witness who could be lying or could be mistaken about what they have seen
Explain how a religious upbringing can lead to, or support, a belief in God (8)
Christians usually teach their children to pray to God. This will make the children believe that God exists because otherwise their parents would not want them to pray to them.
If God did not exist, they and their parents would not waste their time praying to nothing. Also they may feel God’s presence when they prey. So because they’ve been brought up to pray, they believe that god must exist
Another Feature of a Christian upbringing is going to church. When children go to church they see lots of people praying to god and worshipping God and this is bound to make them think that God must exist as all these people believe he does
Many Christian parents also send their children to a church school. Here they will have R.E lessons which teach them that God exists and the children are likely to believe it because their teachers tell them it is true.
“Considering the evidence, everyone should be an agnostic”
- Do you agree? Give reasons for your opinion (3)
- Give reasons why some people may disagree with you (3)
I do not agree because I am an atheist and not an agnostic.
I think that science, the Big bang theory, DNA evolution are a compelling proof that God not exist because he did not create the universe or people.
Also, if God existed, surely he would sent only one holy book, he would allow only one religion
Furthermore, the fact of evil and suffering in the world proves that God does not exist, because an all-good and all-powerful being would not allow only one religion.
The evidence of science, the problem of evil and suffering, and the huge problems of different religions convince me that there is no God and so I disagree with the statement.
- I can see why some people would disagree with me because evidence such as design seems to disapprove it. In the same way the first cause argument seems to prove God’s existence, but then there is the question of what caused God. Then the religious evidence to prove God’s existence such as miracles, holy books etc can be explained in non-religious ways. So it seems logical to say there is not enough evidence either way, so they are agnostics
by
arunthathynair (student)
