If this God Exists

If there is a God who is liable to command anything; and if our highest loyalty must be to this God, there is no act save disobedience to God which we can safely say is out of bounds, no act of a kind which simply must not be done, even rape, to use Dr. Craig‘s example. If this God exists, and we must obey him unconditionally, then anything whatever might turn out to be permissible. This view is destructive of morality as we normally think of it.

So there you have my opening argument. I have offered seven objections, seven deadly objections, I would say, to Christian theism: it is committed to predestination, to Hell, to original sin, to justification by faith, and to exclu- sivism; it has no good solution to the problem of evil; and it is destructive of morality as we understand it. These are only some of the objections which make it impossible for me to believe in the Christian God. But they are enough to make me wonder how anyone who has thought seriously about the Christian faith can accept it.

1. The opening parts of Curley’s speech tell some of his life story. What is the point of this opening? Does this narrative contribute to his argument?

2. Explain and evaluate each of Curley’s “seven deadly objections” to belief in a Christian God. How could a traditional Christian best respond to each objection? Is that response adequate? Why or why not?

3. Some of Curley’s arguments depend on specific doctrines of traditional Christianity. Does this make his arguments weaker? Why or why not?

4. Is there any better reason to deny the existence of God that Curley overlooked? If so, present it as forcefully as you can.