Belief in God’s existence - DA‘WAH TO ATHEISTIS

Belief in God’s existence.

First and foremost, it should be noted that belief in God’s existence is not illogical, as modern atheists would have mankind believe. Ancient Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle rationally concluded that God must exist. Plato argued from design that there must be a designer. When human beings come across footprints on a beach, they immediately conclude that a human being had walked by there some time previously. It would be quite illogical to imagine that the waves from the sea settled in the sand and by chance produced a depressions looking exactly like human footprints.

Consequently, it is not surprising to find that all human societies throughout human history, with very few exceptions, have believed in the existence of God. It is only in the 20^th century that whole societies have been established based on the denial of God’s existence. Russia and China and states under their control systematically taught atheism in all of their institutions of learning. However, after the fall of the soviet system and the abandonment of communist economics in China, the resurgence of religion in both countries has been phenomenal.

Anthropologists and psychologists have long held that belief in God was acquired by nurture. This was a natural result of their Darwinian views, which considered humans essentially animals, and thus the absence of religion among apes indicated that it must be man-made. In fact Freud proposed that the oedipal-complex was the basis of human belief in God. Yet, some modern researchers increasingly leaned to the conclusion that belief in God must be natural for it to be so wide-spread. In 1997 experimental evidence for the inherent belief in God was found.

‘God spot’ is found in brain

by Steve Connor

Science Correspondent

SCIENTISTS believed they have discovered a “God module” in the brain which could be responsible for man’s evolutionary instinct to believe in religion.

A study of epileptics who are known to have profoundly spiritual experiences has located a circuit of nerves in the front of the brain which appears to become electrically active when they think about God.

The scientists said that although the research and its conclusions are preliminary, initial results suggest that the phenomenon of religious belief is “hard-wired” into the brain.

Epileptic patients who suffer from seizures of the brain’s frontal lobe said they frequently experience intense mystical episodes and often become obsessed with religious spirituality.

A team of neuroscientists from the University of California at San Diego said the most intriguing explanation is that the seizure causes an over-stimulation of the nerves in a part of the brain dubbed the “God module.”

“There may be dedicated neural machinery in the temporal lobes concerned with religion. This may have evolved to impose order and stability on society,” the team reported at a conference last week The results indicate that whether a person believes in a religion or even in.

God may depend on how enhanced is this part of the brain’s electrical circuitry, the scientists said.

Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran, head of the research team, head of the research team, said the study involved comparing epileptic patients with normal people and a group who said they were intensely religious.

Electrical monitors on their skin—a standard test for activity—in the brain’s temporal lobes—showed that the epileptics and the deeply religious displayed a similar response when shown words invoking spiritual belief.

Evolutionary scientists have suggested that belief in God, which is a common trait found in human societies around the world and throughout history, may be built into the brain’s complex electrical circuitry as a Darwinian adaptation to encourage co-operation between individuals.

If the research is correct and a “God module” exists, then it might suggest that individuals who are atheists could have a differently configured neural circuit.

A spokesman for Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford, said whether there is a “God module” is a question for scientists, not theo-logians. “It would not be surprising if God had created us with a physical facility for belief,” he said.

The Sunday Times, 2 Nov. 97, p. 1-9.

Consequently, of the many verses in the Qur’aan addressing God’s attributes, only few address His existence. In Soorah at-Toor (52):35-6, Allaah said:

“Were they created from nothing or did they create themselves. Or did they create the heavens and earth? Indeed, they are uncertain.”

Logic and reason is used to convince humans that there must be a Creator. Allaah gives the three logical possibilities for human creation in these verses.

a)     Humans were created from nothing or by nothing. This proposal violates basic reason. Something cannot come from nothing. Nothing cannot create something.

b) Humans created themselves. This is also an illogical and contradictory proposition. To create ones’ self, one must already exist. But to be created one must first not exist.

c)      Humans were created by something already created. This implies in infinite regression of causes which ultimately means that humans do not exist. If C1 were caused by C2, and C2 by C3 to CN, then C1 cannot exist unless C2 does, etc. And CN means that it has no beginning. Consequently, C1 cannot exist. In other words, if human existence is preceded by an infinite amount of causes requiring an infinite amount of time to take place, it is the same as saying that they will never take place. Human existence thus becomes impossible. The Greek philosopher Aristotle argued similarly that the infinite regression of the cause and effect chain was impossible.

The only remaining possibility is that humans and other created things were created by a being which is not itself created.

Source

to be continued....