Common Theist Arguments

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Overview

Here we endeavor to organize a list of common theist arguments. These will be broken down into categories based on whether the arguments are general in nature (i.e. applying to a generic "god") or against specific religious philosophies.

Looking for a quick summary? Take a look at the Top ten arguments for the existence of God.

Notes to contributors

Note to contributors: Try not to put the arguments in this page - this is mainly an index to individual pages with more details on each argument. Create a link on this page, save it, and then click on that link to set up your new page.

• For a good example of the format we want to present, see Argument From Design - each argument is broken into three main sections: summary, examples, problems/criticism. Theist statements representing the argument are wrapped in a bluebox template. Here's an example argument page to use as a template to cut-and-paste into new pages.

Hall of Fame

Arguments so amusing or erroneous they are fast becoming apocryphal.

• Banana: The Atheist's Nightmare
• Religious misconceptions - Common misconceptions about religion and scripture
• Peanut Butter: Disproves Evolution?
• Crocoduck - Kirk Cameron's transitional fossil that should prove evolution
• Funny theist quotes - A huge collection of the amazing claims religious people make, mostly taken from online forums.

General Arguments

• Top ten arguments for the existence of God - A summary of the most common arguments to prove god exists, along with explanations.
• Argument From Design - This is by far the most common and most prevalent argument theists present to "prove god exists". Every design needs a designer, and they use a wide variety of props from clocks to cola cans.
• Argument from improbability - The second most common argument used to prove the existence of God. Look at the world; look at the human body, etc. The likelihood of something so perfectly tuned being arbitrarily created surely indicates the presence of a supernatural creator.
• Argument from irreducible complexity - A variation of the argument from improbability, the irreducible complexity argument says that there are structures of life that defy the laws of evolution and natural selection and must have been intelligently designed.
• Atheism is a belief - It takes just as much faith to be an atheist as it does a theist. Oh really?
• Atheists "hate" God - If you don't believe, it's because you hate Jesus or God.
• Pascal's Wager - What is there to lose by believing in god?
• Morality - What's the source of morality? Is it divine?
• What Is The Soul? - Discussions on consciousness
• Creation of the Universe - What do theists and science say about creation in general?

• Origins of Life - What do theists and scientists say about creation of humans and other life?
• Atheists convert to theism - Many religious people claim they used to be "atheist" and then they found God.
• If you don't respect peoples' faith you're worse than those you criticize - Theists say, at the least, all atheists should respect their personal faith. Oh really? Let's examine this.
• America is a Christian nation - Theists put a different spin on the Establishment clause.
• In God We Trust - What's the truth behind religious slogans on U.S. currency?

Theist Propaganda

• Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed - A new movie featuring Ben Stein claims creationists are persecuted in the scientific community.
• When creationists attack - A montage of various creationist propaganda videos attempting to discredit evolutionary theory and people who believe in evolution.

E-mail becomes a medium for various pro-god, mean-spirited or anti-atheist missives. Let's examine them.

• Why are atheists so angry? - Why do atheists always seem angry and pissed off?
• God sent me - A marine assaults a liberal college professor who demands god show himself
• Atheist's prayer answered by god - Here's a cute little story about an atheist being brutally murdered that Christians typically find adorable and amusing. Watch your back. Religion of Peace™
• I was the biggest skeptic in the world - A classic piece of cut-and-paste Christian propaganda that's going around the net. The story of "an atheist like you" who "learned the truth"

Philosophical Arguments

• The Secret - This self-help book/DVD and philosophy is currently all the rage, embraced by new age gurus and religious people alike
• The Burden of Proof
• God does exist - Standard Christian essay explaining why God exists

• The Ontological Argument
• The Teleological Argument - also see Watchmaker argument and Argument from Design
• The Cosmological Argument
• The Argument from Scripture or Authority
• The Argument from Miracles
• The Argument from Personal Experience
• The Argument from Morality
• The Argument from Benefit
• Atheists don't follow their own laws of logic - Theists use selective interpretation of the laws of nature to try to turn it around on non-believers.
• The Argument from Consciousness
• What atheists miss about faith

Christian Arguments

Scriptural/Dogmatic Arguments

• Bad Bible Advice - The "inspired word of God" seems to offer quite a lot of bad advice
• Bible trivia - Interesting claims and facts about the Bible
• Creationism/Intelligent Design - The most outrageous and visible battle in the war between theists and atheists. Here we examine all the arguments and details.

• Different bible versions - Is there really that much difference between the various interpretations of the bible? Yes.
• What Did Jesus Die For? - Where is the logic or morality in the idea that murdering an innocent creature can atone for the transgressions of others? Why worship someone for committing an act that all decent people, both theist and atheist would consider immoral?
• Original Sin - Does the concept of original sin make sense?
• A Great World Wide Flood - The Christian arguments for a great flood include finding fish fossils in mountains, and that a great flood story has been told by a society on every major land mass on the planet.
• Abortion and the Bible - Is there scriptural evidence to support abortion being a sin?
• God is good - If you look at some passages, God in the Bible says some nice things about people and how you should live your life. He almost sounds *gasp* liberal.
• Monsters in the Bible - The Bible talks about amazing and scary creatures.
• Sermon on the mount - Jesus' famous sermon is a standard by which modern Christianity is judged. But have you heard it all?

Historical Arguments

• Did Jesus really exist? - What historical evidence is there for Jesus existence?
• Who wrote the Bible? - What do we know about the authors of the Bible?
• The Gospels are evidence of Jesus - Theists claim within the Gospels themselves are all the details you need to verify Jesus was real.
• Is America a "Christian Nation?" - Also see America_is_not_a_Christian_nation and Was the United States founded on Christianity?
• Did Einstein and other famous scientists believe in god? - Theists often cite select quotes to prove great thinkers throughout history were theists.
• Was Hitler an atheist or theist? - We'll get to the facts on this issue.
• Stalin, Mao Zedong and Pol Pot - Were these nasty leaders atheist and did this have anything to do with their actions?
• Religious holidays - Information on various holidays and their origins
• Are atheists responsible for atrocities? - Some very bad people in history claimed to not believe in god. Theists say this proves atheists are immoral.

Scientific Arguments

• Evolution vs. Creation - Information and resources on debunking creationism, aka "Intelligent Design"
• 6000 year old Earth - How old is the earth according to the Bible?
• Lucy - Are certain fossils evidence of creation instead of evolution?
• Missing missing links - Theists claim there are no "missing links" (transitional fossils) found
• Intelligent design - The new name for creationism, i.e. reconciling the Bible's book of Genesis with science
• Shroud of Turin - Is the Shroud of Turin a legitimate artifact from Jesus?
• Argument from oranges - Using oranges, a fundamentalist theist makes fun of evolution
• Peanut Butter: Disproves Evolution? - just watch...

Essays

• A nation of Christians is not a Christian nation - Op-Ed from the NYT by the editor of Newsweek

Muslim Arguments

Other Religious Arguments

• Quotes

See Also

• Index of theological debates