Look at this famous painting what s missing? What could YOU deduce about human nature from this picture? Write your thoughts on this sheet!

If there is NO GOD then. What is our origin? What is our purpose? Destiny? Do we have intrinsic worth / value? When does life begin? Do we still have a soul? What about a conscience? Can we still have morals? What are they based upon? What about an afterlife? NB: Buddhists don t believe in a God We no longer need holy prophets/leaders, religious rules / holy teachings.. No guilty hang ups that we have sinned and will have eternal damnation in hell. Our lives are not given by God.. And taken away by God (Sanctity of Life)

Read this sentence and then answer it from an atheist s point of view.

Cell, Nucleus, Chromosome, DNA, Gene. Male Chromosome X Y Female Chromosome X X http://kidshealth.org/kid/talk/qa/what_is_gene.html#

The Theory of Evolution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=farlfs YmkeY

10 Charles Darwin 1809-1882 In the 1830s he went on a scientific expedition to Australasia lasting 5 years! On the HMS Beagle

What did he see? Many species that were not found in Europe Lots of fossils Many variations of creatures on different islands 11

12 He concluded that Survival depends on being able to adapt Creatures that don t adapt, become extinct Only the fittest survive They pass the adaptations on to future generations

Every organism must struggle to survive They struggle to get resources to survive and to get away from predators Not all of them make it 13

15 The process of natural selection is the species changing over a period time by adapting to their situation.

What did Charles Darwin actually say? 16 The publication of Charles Darwin s book On the Origin of Species in 1859 helped launch the modern science of evolution. It also created a firestorm of controversy, by suggesting that all species including homo sapiens evolved from lower life forms. However, Darwin did not explicitly state that humans evolved from ape and monkey-like creatures in On the Origin of Species. He saved that bombshell for his next major work, The Descent of Man, which was first published in London on February 24, 1871. The final chapter of that book, Chapter 21, contains Darwin s famous statement: We thus learn that man is descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits, and an inhabitant of the Old World.

17 Check your understanding 1. What is a THEORY? 2. Explain what the word EVOLUTION means? 3. What is NATURAL SELECTION? 4. What did Charles Darwin say in The Descent of Man? 5. Why do you think the CHURCH was outraged by Darwin s theory of evolution?

1. A THEORY is a an explanation commonly regarded as correct. 2. EVOLUTION is a theory put forward by Charles Darwin to explain how life has developed over time through a process of natural selection using survival of the fittest. 3. Natural selection is the means by which a species selects the most advantageous genes to be passed on to the next generation. 4. In the Descent of Man Darwin makes the link between apes and man, We thus learn that man is descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped. 5. The church was outraged as Darwin's theory of evolution seemed to conflict with Genesis Ch1. But that s another lesson!!! 18

19 Read Directions 3 Science and the creation of animal life p50, 51, 54, 55, 56, 57 Summarise the arguments FOR evolution Make sure you can add QUOTES / NAMES. Summarise the arguments FOR creation Make sure you can add QUOTES / NAMES.

20 http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/people/da wkins.shtml#top This page provides interviews and a transcript of BBC interviews with Richard Dawkins, a vocal pro-humanist.

* Aka The Design Argument. R Calvert, Colton Hills Community School 21

Teleos = end or purpose Design = the idea that something has been planned with a purpose by a designer. R Calvert, Colton Hills Community School 22

For theists this designer is God. R Calvert, Colton Hills Community School 23

William Paley suppose I walk through the countryside and come across a rock. I could naturally and logically assume it had always been there. If, however, I had come across a pocket watch, and looked at all its workings, I could not naturally, or logically, assume that, like the rock, the watch had always existed there. I would naturally need to assume that at some time in some place it had been put together for a specific purpose by someone with great skill. R Calvert, Colton Hills Community School 24

Paley argued that the world, and everything in it, is far more complex than a watch and so must have been designed by the greatest possible being, God. R Calvert, Colton Hills Community School 25 How is the watch used as an analogy (a comparison) for the world?

1. To design something takes intelligence and thought. 2. The universe appears to have been designed (NOT a result of RANDOM CHANCE.) 3. Therefore, a being with intelligence and thought must have designed the universe. 4. Only God could design something as complex as the universe. 5. Therefore, God must exist. R Calvert, Colton Hills Community School 26

The universe is far more complicated than a watch. If a watch has a designer then surely the universe has. God is omnipotent. He is the only thing powerful enough to make the universe. So God must exist. R Calvert, Colton Hills Community School 27

Newton s Thumb! Did you know.. Every person in the world has a unique thumbprint. A person has the same thumbprint all his life. Even though a person's hands grow, his thumbprints stay the same. Even identical twins have different thumbprints. If you injure the tip of your thumb, your skin will grow back in the same pattern and eventually your original thumbprint will return. When Isaac Newton looked at his unique thumb print, he felt that this was evidence that a designer God exists! In absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God s existence. R Calvert, Colton Hills Community School 28

Objections to the Designer God. David Hume was an 18 th c. philosopher. He said the universe didn t have to be designed. It could have come about by random chance and coincidence. Hume s objections were later expanded upon by Charles Darwin who said evolution and natural selection (survival of the fittest) help us to understand our world today, not a designer god. If God is a benevolent God, and a perfect designer, why is there so much cruelty in the R Calvert, Colton Hills Community School 29 animal kingdom? Is it a design flaw???!!!

Richard Dawkins is a scientist who wrote a book called The Blind Watchmaker. He says there are too many design faults in the universe to say they are a result of a designer God. http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/designer-or-nodesigner/3808.html Atheist Julian Baggini meets Richard Dawkins to explore how Darwin's ideas of natural selection offer an alternative explanation to the origin of life, without the need for a designer God. Countering William Paley's idea that there must be a divine watchmaker, Dawkins describes how he sees evolution as the 'blind watchmaker'. Dawkins responds to the idea that a Darwinian worldview is rather bleak by explaining the value in making one's own purpose in life. R Calvert, Colton Hills Community School 30

Design Faults Problem of Evil * Design of the universe proves there IS A GOD Complexity of nature Psychopath Cruelty Spiral galaxy Isaac Newton s thumb Interdependence in human body Earthquakes Disease Immune System Paley s Watch luck Evolution weak strong R Calvert, Colton Hills Community School 31 Interdependence in nature

Plenary How could the eye be used to prove the existence of God? R Calvert, Colton Hills Community School 32

It's all in the eye Duration: 04:56 Scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins explains how our eyes are constructed. He doesn't believe they were made in one step by a master maker, he believes they evolved from flat patches of light sensitive cells many millions of year ago. He explains today you can find examples of living creatures with the types of eyes from each stage in the evolutionary process. http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/its-all-in-the-eye/454.html R Calvert, Colton Hills Community School 33

Where do we get our MORALS from? Draw a stick person and around it add all the people / places that you get your morals from.

What do you think your CONSCIENCE is? Discuss in pairs and then try and write a sentence/s explaining your ideas.

Conscience: (a Theist s point of view!) A person s inner sense of right and wrong. Theist s believe that GOD created us with a conscience to influence our behaviour. Therefore our conscience SHOULD be followed. It is the voice of God.

Conscience: (An Atheist's point of view) Conscience is nothing to do with God! Our conscience has developed as we have been taught moral standards from parents, teachers, society etc. Religious believers follow the rules and morals of their religion. They are not instructed by the voice of God.

AGAINST

AGAINST 1. It s difficult to prove that morality exists some people are AMORAL (have no sense of right / wrong). 2. People have different morals why would God give us different messages? 3. Atheists and agnostics believe that morality was developed through human evolution. People survived in a groups that cooperated with each other! 4. Therefore God doesn t exist. GUILT..This isn t down to GOD!! Guilt is when we let our parents / school / friends / society down. MORAL REWARDS If there is no God, then there can be no after life and no reward! Happy lives are down to chance, luck.

Some people use mind and soul to mean the same thing. Other people say that the MIND is the THINKING, FEELING part of a human and the SOUL is the SPIRITUAL part of a person.

Materialism is the belief that the MIND and BODY are INSEPARABLE. Materialists REJECT any idea of survival of the soul once the physical body is dead. Because LIFE depends upon a functioning brain and physical body! DEATH involves the destruction of the brain and physical body! THEREFORE, a person s life ends at death, as life cannot continue without a physical form.

Materialists consider that there is NO scientific evidence for the existence of a soul and it will NEVER be possible to prove whether or not a soul exists.