Final Report Part 3 of 4 - Melissa Ferguson

Here is a link to part 2 of my report http://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2014/12/final-report-2-of-4-melissa-ferguson.html

A Conversation Among Philosophers

Part 3

God (2)

In a hypothetical time, Saint Augustine, Baruch Spinoza, Bertrand Russell, and Voltaire discuss Gods existence and the reasoning behind their answers.

Augustine: I often question why God lets evil into the world. As a young man I was a Manichaean. This means I believed God was not supremely powerful. I thought that there was a constant battle between good and evil and sometimes evil prevailed. Now in my later years I have rejected that idea all together.

Bertrand Russell: Then how do you explain moral evil? Why does god allow bad things to happen if he is powerful?

Augustine: I have now accepted the Free Will Defense. It only makes sense that there is moral evil in the world because God gave us the ability to freely choose our actions. Sometimes those decisions have evil intent.

Voltaire: At one time in my life I questioned why God allowed bad things to happen. After the Lisbon Earthquake I wasn’t even sure God existed. However, I am a deist. There is visible evidence that God does exist and there is design in nature. But let me be clear, organized religion is a waste. It is a shame and I believe it separates us further from God.

Baruch Spinoza: Speaking of nature, I believe God and nature are one in the same. God is the world. Everything fits together in a complex whole, but ultimately everything that exists is a part of God. I know it seems odd, but God is all around us. Everything is God.

Bertrand Russell: God doesn’t exist in my opinion. Its clear that people are drawn to religion because they are afraid of death. If they believe that an almighty being will save their souls then they will not suffer an eternity of darkness. What they fail to see is that religion produces more misery than happiness. I realized God didn’t exist when I learned of the First Cause Argument. God can’t exist if everything has to have a cause. Therefore God doesn’t exist.