Monday, February 1, 2010

Skeptical about Atheism




My Response to an Atheist who Believes that the Belief in God is Utter Foolishness:


While I share your high estimation of skepticism – it was skepticism that brought me from agnosticism to Christianity – you claim that the existence of God is an “extraordinary claim without the support of extraordinary evidence (to paraphrase Carl Sagan paraphrasing David Hume).” In this, I don’t think that you are sufficiently skeptical about your own claim of naturalism.

While I agree with you about the “extraordinary claims” that require “extraordinary evidence,” I must point out that we all must grapple with the same two “extraordinary” choices – Either Naturalism or Supernaturalism is the origin/explanation of the universe. Let me now set forth some arguments for Supernaturalism in favor of Naturalism.

1. Our experience uniformly demonstrates that the cause must be greater than the effect. Intelligent causation is greater than non-intelligent causation. Therefore, supernaturalism must be the preferred hypothesis.

2. Supernaturalism (transcendence) is a better explanation than Naturalism (materialism) for the immutability of the physical laws. Something must transcend our expanding universe of molecules-in-motion. (Where do the “natural” laws come from?)

3. Supernatural Transcendence is also a better explanation than localized materialism for the uniform operation of these laws throughout the universe.

4. Supernatural Oneness is more parsimonious than the idea of myriads of independently operating natural laws. It better accounts for the stability and regularity of the physical world.

5. Although we all agree that phenomena occur formulaically and predictably, there is absolutely no evidence that the laws that govern are natural as opposed to their being part of a Super-Intelligence.

6. Naturalism is utterly inadequate to account for many phenomena – life, DNA, consciousness, freewill, the fine-tuning of the universe, reason and logic – while Supernaturalism is adequate.

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