Name________________________________________

Reading Question Set #5

Atheism, Faith and Reason

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Turn in only the answer sheet above. 

1.  What’s a successful argument supposed to do:

a.  make it so that not believing the conclusion is rational.

b.  convince everyone who doubts.

c.  offer up evidence in support of a conclusion. 

d.  provide reasons that would make it reasonable for a person who doesn’t believe to believe.

2.   Consider Theodore Drange’s Argument from Nonbelief to Atheism.  Is Drange arguing for the conclusion that:

a.  there is a God.

b.  there is no being who is the ruler of the entire universe who has a son and who sent his son to be the savior of humanity.

c.  Jesus does not exist. 

d.  the situation S does not obtain, where situation S is the situation of all or almost all humans since Jesus have come to believe that God is the ruler of the entire universe and God is his son, sent to be their savior. 

3.  Consider Some Additional Considerations about Divine Hiddenness and Nonbelief (following Drange’s argument).  Which of these is not suggested as a reason why God would not reveal himself:

a.  Believing by making a leap of faith is something God desires. 

b.  God’s making his existence more evident would undermine our ability to have diverse views and find our own way. 

c.  God is incapable of revealing himself. 

d.  If God revealed himself, people would believe because they do not want to be punished.

4.  McCormick’s article concerning souls argues for the conclusion that:

a.  souls do not exist.

b.  souls are impossible.

c.  it is possible that our souls could live on forever.

d.  souls depend upon brains to exist.

e.  a personal soul ceases to exist after the brain ceases to function.

5.  Which of these best represents the dualist objection to McCormick’s argument?

a.  Our souls depend on our brains for only part of their functions, not all.

b.  It is possible that the brain is only a means of communication for the soul which is independent.

c.  There are two kinds of existence, material and spiritual.  McCormick’s argument only addresses the material.

d.  McCormick’s argument doesn’t show that souls are impossible, only that there is no evidence for their immortality. 

e.  Isn’t it at least possible that we have an immortal, non-physical soul?

6.  Which of these is not a problem with the view that there is some non-personal soul that survives the death of the body?

a.  we don’t have any evidence that such an energy or force exists. 

b.  It’s not clear why I should be interested in or care about the continued existence of something that is not me.

c.  That would suggest that the personal soul in fact is not immortal. 

d.  we have a great deal of evidence that suggests that there is something else, a life force or some energy, besides just the material stuff that makes up the human body. 

7.  Flew's two explorers come upon what in the jungle?

a.  A gardener tending some weeds and flowers.

b.  An invisible, secretive, intangible gardener.

c.  An overgrown garden path.

d.  a carefully groomed and maintained garden.

e. A clearing with weeds and flowers.

8.  Efforts to detect a presence result in:

a. no empirical indications of a presence at all.

b.  conclusive evidence that the Believer was right.

c.  definitive proof that the Believer was mistaken.

d.  catching a gardener in a trap.

e.  discovering an elusive force that tends the area.

9.  In the end, the Skeptic despairs because the Believer's claim about the gardener is:

a.  False.

b.  Testable.

c.  Meaningless.

d.  An assertion. 

10.  The difference between an assertion and a non-assertion is best described as:

a.  Assertions are true whereas non-assertions are false.

b.  Assertions are meaningful and true, whereas non-assertions are meaningful and false.

c.  Assertions necessarily imply that their opposite is false, while non-assertions are compatible with any state of affairs.

d.  Assertions can be disproven, whereas non-assertions are proven. 

11.  According to Flew, utterances like "God has a plan," "God created the world," "God loves us as a father loves his children," are:

a.  reassuring and true.

b.  true, but the conditions of their truth are distinct from conventional empirical claims

c.  different from the Believer's claim about the jungle.

d.  not really any different than saying their opposites.

e.  meaningful assertions..

12.  According to Flew, "it seems as if there was no conceivable event or series of events the occurrence of which would be admitted by sophisticated religious people to be a reason for conceding" that there is no God.  What is Flew's attitude towards this kind of position?

a.  Flew believes that these kinds of views are comforting, reassuring, and philosophically sound.

b.  Flew approves of strong religious attitudes like these.

c.  Flew believes that the only sort of sophisticated religious position must take this form.

d.  Flew believes that these kinds of positions are not falsifiable, therefore they are weak or unreasonable.

e.  Flew disapproves of these views for not making a stronger case in favor of God's existence.  

14.  Sam Harris’s primary opposition in the excerpt from The End of Faith

(http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/chapter-one/) is to:

a.  belief in God in any form.

b.  religiousness worldwide.

c.  believing religious claims on the basis of faith.

d.  the failure of modern society to have a more open discussion about religious beliefs. 

15. In the video from Sam Harris, Believing the Unbelievable, which of these is not one of the three most common responses to atheism that he considers:

a.  the alternative to being religious, atheism, itself is just another form of dogmatic, intolerant religion. 

b.  people will commonly argue that in fact the specific claims of a religion like Christianity are true. 

c.  people will argue that the evidence of design in the universe shows that there must be a God. 

d.  they will argue that they find religion to be consoling and useful.

e.  atheism is as much a form of faith as religion. 

16. In the video from Sam Harris, Believing the Unbelievable, he argues that:

a.  the miracle claims of modern yogis and mystics are more plausible than those of ancient religions because we have so many reliable eye witness accounts of them. 

b.  ancient miracles claims from many religions are better supported by the evidence than modern ones. 

c.  if modern miracle claims with so many well educated people giving testimonial support are not believable, then ancient ones are even less acceptable. 

d.  ancient religious miracle claims have the benefit of centuries of analysis and corroboration. 

17.  Suppose that the claim that being religious gives people personal comfort is true.  Harris argues that,

a.  that would be defensible grounds for being religious as long as you are clear about what your reasons are. 

b.  It would be a non sequitur to think that the religious claims are therefore true. 

c.  people do find a great deal of comfort in religion. 

d.  the amount of comfort that religion provides is not sufficient to outweigh the problems created by religion. 

18.  According to William Lane Craig, how are faith and reason to be related?

a.  the Christian can know through the witness of the holy spirit that Christianity is true entirely separate from any evidence. 

b.  we can know the existence of God and the truth of Christianity through reason first and through faith second. 

c.  evidence can count against the self-authenticating truths known through the Holy Spirit.

d.  the evidence will support Christianity in the end, even if it doesn’t appear to at first.  Faith will get us through. 

19.  Doubt is,

a. an intellectual problem, but it should not be an emotional one. 

b.  a spiritual challenge, even when the intellect is satisfied.

c.  an intellectual and a spiritual problem. 

d.  something to be appreciated because of the opportunity it provides to exercise our reason. 

20.  According to Craig,

a.  it is possible to address our doubts and answer our questions given enough time. 

b.  doubt is the enemy of reason.

c.  success as a Christian comes from learning to live with doubts and questions that we cannot resolve.

d.  if we foster enough spirituality in our lives, doubts will not arise. 

e.  a nagging question can be answered, serious doubts cannot.