Religion Course: Does God Exist?
Religion and spirituality. Learn about systems of faith and worship.
Join us for a day-long workshop on the existence of God. Does God exist? How should we decide? And what is God anyway? Learn about the pros and cons for the best arguments for and against God’s existence, and learn about how debates on the topic do and should occur. We shall also tackle the false dichotomy that either theism or naturalism is true, introducing key models from outside the mainstream Western philosophical and religious traditions.
Aims
Learn to confidently describe and discuss key arguments concerning the existence of God. This course aims to introduce diverse ideas about religion and philosophy.
Outcomes
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
- describe God and other gods, and the methods for determining whether they exist
- debate on the existence of God and other gods, and miraculous occurrences
- apply epistemological concepts to your personal life.
Content
Session 1: How to decide
- Basic epistemology – how do we ‘know’ anything?
- The ‘okayness’ of arguments
- The utility of Bayesian analyses
Session 2: Arguments for God 1/2
- Argument from contingency
- Kalām cosmological argument
- Argument from fine-tuning
Session 3: Arguments for God 2/2
- Argument from morality
- Ontological arguments
- Arguments from personal experience and miracles
Session 4: Arguments for Naturalism
- Argument from evil
- Argument from hiddenness
- Arguments from inconsistent revelation and other inefficiencies
Session 5: Exposing the false dichotomy
- Polytheisms
- Alternative monotheisms
- Pantheisms
Session 6: Decision time
- Theism vs. Naturalism
- Theism vs. A-Theism
- The most probable divine model
Intended audience
Anyone with an interest in the existence of God and the course themes.
Prerequisites
None
Delivery modes
- Online workshop via the platform Zoom
- Face-to-face, presenter-taught workshop
Delivery style
All-day workshop
Features
- Expert trainers
- Central locations
- Free, expert advice
- Course materials – yours to keep
- CCE Statement of Completion