Thinking about God Again, for the First Time: Conversations with an Atheist and a Christian on God, Proof, Morality, and Evil

By Paul Timothy Jensen

Over many years of teaching philosophy and religion, author Paul Timothy Jensen has encountered questions on a wide range of philosophical and spiritual topics from college students, professional colleagues, and other adults.

In Thinking about God Again, for the First Time, Jensen explores these questions in the form of imaginary conversations between an atheist and a Christian. Together, Alex and Chris ponder issues of enduring interest and importance: God’s possible existence; God’s possible love for humans; and the concepts of proof, morality, and evil. The conversations examine these and other closely related questions, seeking to state opposing viewpoints fairly and vigorously and engage the minds of readers. Jensen hopes to encourage others to think about God again or for the first time, fostering opportunities for civil conversation.

This study presents a series of questions on topics in the realm of philosophy and religion, considered from the viewpoint of an atheist and a Christian.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9798385015481

Paul Timothy Jensen

Paul Timothy Jensen is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Dubuque and a partner in the law firm of Hammer, Simon & Jensen.

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ISBN: 979-8-3850-1546-7 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1547-4 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-1548-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023924453

WestBow Press rev. date: 4/9/2024

To my three children:

Matthew, Rachel, and Benjamin

Is the universe a dance of material particles and human life a byproduct of their collision, a merely temporary passenger traveling across an alien and brutal environment? If so, the whole scheme of space and time is a bad joke beyond our understanding, an empty laugh braying across centuries.

Or has the familiar world in which we live and move a meaning in the sense that it was created for a purpose? If so, reality must consist of a mind, a mind which created and planned, which means that there lies at the heart of things something akin to ourselves.

—C. E. M. Joad

Preface

What follows are imaginary conversations with a young atheist (Alex) and a young Christian (Chris). They are based on conversations and questions I have been asked over many years teaching philosophy and religion. Some of these questions have been asked by colleagues and have led to interesting exchanges. In addition to conversations with many excellent students over the years, some of whom have gone on to earn advanced degrees in theology, philosophy, and law, my greatest debts are to my three children, Matthew, Rachel, and Benjamin, who have been encouraged from their earliest years to ask the hardest questions that come to their minds, and to my erstwhile colleague Dale Easley. Dale teaches geology, and on many mountain trails and over coffee after motorcycle rides, Dale has challenged me to give coherent answers to these questions, even if he has reserved his liberty to disagree. He is a great friend and the ideal interlocutor.

I have been from my earliest years an orthodox believing Christian, trained in history, theology, philosophy, and law. Despite my own convictions, I have tried to state opposing viewpoints fairly and vigorously. I have also expressed views that are consistent with modern astronomy, cosmology, geology, and biology. I hold that all of these views are not merely consistent with Christianity but provide the most solid foundation for the view that the God worshiped by Jews and Christians is the creator and judge of the universe. I recognize that some of my Christian friends reject, or are at least uncomfortable with, the deliverances of modern astronomy, cosmology, geology, and biology. My hope, nevertheless, is that some atheists might be persuaded and that those Christians who disagree will at least say, I understand.

Contents

Chapter 1: The Challenge: In a Dangerous World, Does God Exist and Love Us?

Many college students and adults have asked this important question. Suppose that Alex (an atheist) poses this question to Chris (a Christian). Assume that Alex is genuinely interested in a response to the question and that Chris would like to give a competent answer. Might a third party help?

Chapter 2: What Counts as a Proof of Anything?

Because many people speak of proofs for God’s existence, it seems wise to address this and set it aside in favor of arguments or evidence for God’s existence. A useful place to begin is with a demonstration of what a mathematical proof looks like and a recitation of the standard mathematical and philosophical definition of a proof: showing not merely that a proposition is true but that it couldn’t be false. This explains why knowledge is logically prior and superior to proof.

Chapter 3: What about Scientific Proof?

Despite common conceptions to the contrary, the best scientists don’t speak of proving theories but of gathering data to confirm theories through probability. Hence, scientists and philosophers have much in common, both in their appeal to probability and in their use of argument forms such as reductio ad absurdum and inference to the best explanation.

Chapter 4: Can We Agree on the Meaning of God?

By exploring what atheists claim to disbelieve, atheists and Christians can use God to refer to the same being.

Chapter 5: Are You Morally Serious about the Existence of God?

Philosopher Paul Moser urges that the reception of significant evidence sometimes depends on the receptive attitude of people. Thus, to be morally serious about God’s existence, one must be willing to be morally transformed. Some claim to believe in God but engage in acts of terror. Others claim not to believe in God but seem to hate God. A morally serious interest has potential morally transforming effects. Consequently, Chris should acknowledge that merely knowing God exists is insufficient, and Alex should consider whether, as an atheist, he is willing to be morally transformed.

Chapter 6: Are You among Those Who Don’t Want God to Exist?

The atheist philosopher Thomas Nagel famously said that he not only doesn’t believe in God; he doesn’t want God to exist. Nagel’s honesty is commendable, and consequently Chris can hope that Alex will perhaps see that atheism is not merely a matter of disbelief but also includes a desire for the nonexistence of a creator and judge of the universe.

Chapter 7: Is Anyone Genuinely Indifferent Regarding God’s Existence?

Thomas Nagel claims to lack a sensus divinitatis (an intuitive perception of God). However, Nagel also inquires whether anyone is indifferent regarding God’s existence. If no one is indifferent, as Nagel believes, this also affects our understanding of theists and atheists.

Chapter 8: Could Belief in God Be a Properly Basic Belief?

Alvin Plantinga is responsible for the assertion that belief in God could be a properly basic belief, a belief that is part of our noetic (mental) foundations. Many who consider this concept find the possibility fascinating and desire to explore the epistemological basis for asserting that any belief is properly basic and so part of a person’s noetic foundation.

Chapter 9: What Makes an Argument Good?

Philosopher Richard Swinburne has specified four criteria by which arguments should be judged. Three of these criteria apply to arguments for God’s existence.

Chapter 10: Is There a Valid Argument for God’s Existence that Doesn’t Use a Religious Premise?

Some college students have been told or perhaps read online that there are no arguments for God’s existence that are valid or believe that all arguments sneak in a religious premise. Some who assert this have never considered any arguments for God’s existence but are interested in the Kalam cosmological argument, made famous and defended by William Lane Craig. The argument can be stated simply and can be evaluated using Swinburne’s criteria for a good argument.

Chapter 11: How Did Cosmologists Discover that the Universe Had a Beginning?

Few people know the approximate age of the universe or the evidence for its finitude. Nevertheless, when the evidence is presented and explained, many respond with interest and even fascination. Curiously, some fundamentalist Christians who hold to a young earth resist this evidence and even respond with hostility. Hence, presenting the evidence in a persuasive way can be discomfiting to both atheists and Christians. How did cosmologists discover the beginning and approximate age of the universe?

Chapter 12: Can Something Bring Itself into Existence?

Physicists Paul Davies and Lawrence Krauss have both urged that the universe is capable of bringing itself into existence. Philosopher of science David Albert responded to Lawrence Krauss’s book Something from Nothing, and his response seems to be a powerful refutation of the odd claims of Davies and Krauss.

Chapter 13: Does the Universe Require a Personal Cause?

If the universe can’t bring itself into existence, then it would seem that a personal cause is required. William Lane Craig explains why the beginning of space, time, and matter require a personal cause.

Chapter 14: Was the Universe Fine-Tuned to Produce Conscious Embodied Life?

Once cosmologists agreed that the universe had a beginning, they began to explore that beginning, and what they found was astonishing. How were the initial state, the conditions, and the laws of the universe precisely what was required for conscious embodied life to emerge thirteen billion years later? British Astronomer Royal Martin Rees has asserted that only three possibilities can explain this fine-tuning: happenstance, providence, or the multiverse. Whereas he rejects the first two in favor of the last, others argue that providence is a better choice given the lack of any scientific evidence for the multiverse.

Chapter 15: Who Made God?

Upon hearing arguments for God’s existence, some ask, Who made God? This question is confused, and those who ask it do themselves no intellectual credit.

Chapter 16: Do Species Proliferate by Natural Means?

Some atheists use modern biological science to imply willful blindness on the part of some Christians. Our world appears to be a species-generating machine. Acceptance of this proposition cannot be made to conflict with the existence of God, and in fact God seems to love the natural proliferation of species. Nevertheless, there are two reasons why atheists might hold that speciation by natural means could conflict with the existence of a God of unlimited power and goodness.

Chapter 17: Does the Randomness of Species Proliferation Defeat Christian Theism?

The randomness of species proliferation implies to some biologists that the process is purposeless. Could species proliferation be simultaneously random (in the sense meant by biologists) and intended and caused by God? Philosopher Alvin Plantinga answers affirmatively. In addition, the research of paleobiologist Simon Conway Morris demonstrates that biological convergence is further evidence that proliferating species by natural means is a much more predictable process than has been thought. Thus, it seems that evidence of biological convergence makes biology a friend of Christian theism, not its enemy.

Chapter 18: What Counts as Evil?

The theistic problem of evil and the atheistic problem of objective value require that we think first about what counts as an evil act or state of affairs. Augustine viewed evil as the privation of good, although evil as experienced is concrete.

Chapter 19: Does the Existence of Objective Evil Pose a Problem for Atheists?

There are two problems of evil. The first is the familiar theistic problem of evil. But there is also an atheistic problem of objective value: how there could be objective evil (or good), in a world composed entirely of atoms (or subatomic particles) and electromagnetic fields—the world that global materialists claim is ours. This second problem is rarely discussed but is as great a problem for atheists as the theistic problem of evil is for theists.

Chapter 20: Can the Social Construction of Morality Be True?

Social constructivists claim that morality is a social construct. This is the claim that humans have invented rather than discovered goodness and evil. The strongest argument for the social construction of morality, nevertheless, reveals that this view is untenable.

Chapter 21: Has Anyone Perpetrated More Evil than Atheists in the Twentieth Century?

The twentieth century itself refutes those who claim that objective good and evil are illusions. Indeed, the hard-core social constructivists of the twentieth century were the most murderous people in the history of the world.

Chapter 22: Could Right and Wrong Be a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe?

Our basic moral intuitions imply that goodness and evil and rightness and wrongness are objective values and not social constructs. If this is so, then that fact provides an additional argument for God’s existence. This view can also be evaluated using Swinburne’s criteria for a good argument.

Chapter 23: Has Sociobiology Demonstrated that Morality Is an Illusion?

E. O. Wilson and Michael Ruse have claimed that ethics is an illusion fobbed off on us by our own genes to get us to co-operate … and that, "human beings function better if