Preview

Sam Harris's Essay On Religion

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
486 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Sam Harris's Essay On Religion
Paper 1: Rough DraftNeuroscientist, philosopher, and best-selling author Sam Harris in his article, “There is No God (And You Know It)”, argues that only atheist are the ones in touch with reality while the people of faith continue to live in a delusional fantasy where god exist. Harris’s purpose is toconvince people of faith that their religion is false and that atheism is not a religion or philosophy but the acceptance of an obvious truth. He adopts an angry tone in order demonstrate the truth about religion.Harris begins his article by clarifying what atheism truly is, nothing more than a simplerealization of a truth. He appeals to logic by explaining that, “Atheism is not a philosophy...it is simply a refusal to deny the obvious. Unfortunately, we live …show more content…
In this outpouring of emotion the author conveys an annoyed tone that exemplifies to the audience why god is not real.Harris ends his article by explaining how much of the world suffering could be attributed to religion. He appeals to the contrasting idea of good and bad by admitting, “If God exists, either He can do nothing to stop the most egregious calamities, or He does not care to. God,therefore, is either impotent or evil.” (Harris n.p.). And, “Of course, people of faith regularlyassure one another that God is not responsible for human suffering. But how else can we understand the claim that God is both omniscient and omnipotent?” (Harris n.p.). He examinesthe good and bad in order to how god is not all powerful like they say because if he was people in this world would not be suffering. In this examination of god the audience is shown how god cannot be all good therefore he is either unworthy or god is fictionNeuroscientist, philosopher, and best-selling author Sam Harris argues about the existence of a god. He appeals to the logic of basic facts proving that there is no evidence showing the existence of a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    J.L. Mackie’s, “Evil and Omnipotence,” criticizes the debate for the existence of God by arguing that the fundamentals of what a “perfect God” is are inconsistent with one another. The main theological doctrines of what a “perfect God” entails are as followed: God is omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient. J.L. Mackie rejects this by stating God cannot be omnipotent and omnibenevolent if evil exists. He asserts that the problem of evil proves that either no god exists. Mackie soon reaches the debate question of, “Can a perfect God exist when suffering exists?”…

    • 172 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The weaknesses of the Ontological Argument give support to Atheism. Discuss this claim (12 marks)…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Christopher Hitchens’ New Atheist novel, “God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything” written in 2007, highlights everything that is wrong with religion, and how its effects are detrimental to society. Hitchens critiques Christianity, Judaism, and even Hinduism and Buddhism, for their atrocities and blasphemous beliefs and makes a very valid point as to why many individuals have turned away from religion. Though quite persuasive in some cases, other times the novel makes points that seem weak or trivial in regards to the “evilness” of religion. Each chapter of Hitchens’ book emphasizes a certain wrongdoing religion has committed, or how religion has poisoned society.…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Pramiti Sankar PHIL 100 AD0 3 March 2024 Section 1: Introduction In this paper, I will critique William L. Rowe's argument from the problem of evil against the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, and wholly good God. Rowe constructs a deductively valid argument that aims to show that the existence of intense suffering in the world provides rational grounds for atheism - the belief that such a theistic God does not exist. While his argument is logically valid, there are ultimately not sufficient grounds to confidently affirm the truth of the first premise because of our inherent human limitations in knowledge, potential ignorance of goods beyond our comprehension, fallibility in evaluating goods versus evils, and the importance of preserving…

    • 1596 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    It goes without question, that human beings will always question the existence of “God”. Whether these questions are formed in support or denial of an omnipresent creator they are important in helping shape our morality. H J McCloskey and his article “On Being and Atheist” is very critical of theists. It thus presents several arguments on how believers are incorrect in their belief in “God”, cosmological and teleological. McCloskey also focus’s on the existence of evil and how one can find comfort in atheism when facing evil.…

    • 1881 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In February of 1968, H. J. McCloskey’s published an article called, “On Being an Atheist.” In this, he argues that atheism is a more comfortable, logical and realistic than theism. He mentions the evil that is in the world and how it doesn’t make any sense to find comfort in a God that purposely causes pain, disease and natural disasters. McCloskey also mentions it is unreasonable to live by faith in this world. In this article, he argues the three theistic proofs including, the argument for design, the teleological argument and the cosmological argument.…

    • 1490 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Number a-7713

    • 1513 Words
    • 7 Pages

    If the world is full of horrors, does God really exist? At the beginning of the work it is clear that his belief in a benevolent God is unconditional, and he cannot imagine living without faith in a divine power, but this faith is traumatized by his experience during the…

    • 1513 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the main arguments used by non-believers against the existence of God is the presence of evil and suffering in the world. The term ‘evil’ is often used to describe something that is morally wrong. Philosophers make a distinction between moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil results from human actions that are morally reproachable, and Natural evil results from the malfunctioning of the natural world, which produces entities such as disease and famine.…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The problem of evil is a significant and enduring philosophical and theological debate. A question is often raised and discussed: if God is both all-loving and all-powerful, then how can evils-including natural evil and moral evil---exist in our world? In response to the charge that the evils of the world are incompatible with God's omnipotence and perfect goodness, the word"theodicy" is coined to deal with the problem of evil. Usually it is an attempt to show that it is possible to affirm the omnipotence of God, the love of God, and the reality of evil without contradiction. Two of the most well-known and most frequently discussed theodicies are the Augustinian theodicy and the Irenaean theodicy.…

    • 1488 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Response Paper

    • 1586 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In 1968, a article was published by a man named H.J. McCloskey called “On Being an Atheist”, in which an attempt to present arguments against the existence of God is made. In his work, McCloskey attempts to provide readers with the argument that atheism is more “reasonable and comfortable (McCloskey,1968)” compared to the alternative theistic view. In his article, McCloskey attempts to make arguments against the three typical theistic proofs of God which includes the cosmological and teleological arguments, along with the argument from design. McCloskey uses the existence of evil and the irrationalness off faith against the theistic view of God. At the beginning of the article it seems that an intriguing argument will be made regarding the theistic view point of God, yet as McCloskey continues the argument becomes more biased in attacking spiritual beliefs which questions his validity.…

    • 1586 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In fact McCloskey places the bar even lower by referring to the “proofs of” rather than “arguments for” God’s existence, thereby overstating the Theist’s claim. With respect to the “proofs” for God’s existence that McCloskey attempts to deal with, namely the Cosmological and Teleological Arguments, McCloskey offers trivial objections that are easily answered. With respect to arguments for God’s non-existence, McCloskey offers the logical form of the problem of evil which, while rich in rhetoric, does not contain enough logic to necessitate its title. McCloskey ends his article with a pragmatic justification of Atheist, stating that Atheism is more comforting that Theism; a point that is stark in its irrelevance.…

    • 2161 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever thought to yourself, is there a god? Is there actually an almighty being to protect us? Someone who will be there to forgive us for our immoralities? Well in this report, I will be examining evidence there is that suggests the existence of god to determine whether or not there I a possibility of the existence of God.…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Craig objects to grounding morality in the natural world because in the natural world it is more about survival of the fittest. Craig compares humans to animals, who only act on animal nature.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rise of atheism

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Religion has responded successfully and unsuccessfully to the challenge of atheism as there have a number of ideas that have developed over the years that could potentially overthrow many religious believers. Two of these reasons are due to science and empirism.…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Assignment Philo

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The story of a college freshmen and earnest Christian, Josh Wheaton, finds his faith tested and challenged on the first day of his Philosophy class by the strict, atheist and confrontational Professor namely Professor Radisson. Radisson starts his class by keeping and telling his students that they will need to renounce in a sheet of paper, the existence of God, or else they get a failing grade. When Josh’s fellow student begins writing the words “God is Dead” on a piece of paper. Josh found himself in confusion for having to choose between his faith and his future life. He refused to obey the instruction causing the annoyance of his professor. Radisson gave him a disheartening task. If Josh will not admit and write that “God Is Dead,” he must prove God’s existence by presenting well scholarly, academic arguments and proof for the benefit of the course. Moreover, he’ll have a one-on-one discussion in front of the class. Auspiciously, he was able to defend his belief against his atheist professor.…

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays