Mccloskey's Argumentative Analysis

The existence of God has been debated throughout history. There are many arguments for the existence of God but there are two commonly-accepted arguments among theists: the cosmological argument and the teleological argument also known as the argument from design. In his article entitled “On Being an Atheist”, H.J. McCloskey attempts to refute each of these arguments. His stated purpose in the article is to provide reasons for atheism and to show that it is more comforting to be an atheist than it is to be a theist . He goes so far as to say that he believes that theists should be miserable simply because they are theists . He refers to each of the aforementioned arguments as “proofs” and argues that these proofs do not provide indisputable …show more content…
He proposes that those things which were once seen as evidence of design and purpose can now be explained using evolution. His objections to these arguments are based on the claim that “genuine indisputable examples of design or purpose are needed” to “get the proof going” and that no such examples exist . Again, McCloskey is setting the bar unreasonably high by asking for indisputable proof of design. These arguments, just like the cosmological argument, are impossible to scientifically prove with absolute certainty. With these arguments, theists are not attempting to “prove” that God exists but instead are offering an explanation for the universe and how it works which points to an intentional design which points to a …show more content…
Craig argues that without God, man’s “life is but a spark in the infinite blackness, a spark that appears, flickers, and dies forever” . Craig argues that life without immortality and God ultimately has no meaning, value, or purpose. Without meaning, if all that happens when we die is that we just cease to exist then does it really matter if we ever existed? Without value, does it really matter how we lived while we were alive? Craig argues that “it makes no difference whether one has lived as a Stalin or as a saint” if one’s destiny is unrelated to their behavior. Without purpose, what is the reason for living? Craig acknowledges that he has not proven God to be true but only laid out the alternatives. If God does not exist, then life is pointless and meaningless. If God does exist, life has purpose and meaning. Only the latter enables us to live “happily and consistently”