MEGA MONTH

WORKSHOP ON
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

BY
MAKHZUM KHAN SHADID
FORMER OS
(2018-2019)
Philosophy of religion
1. How we should judge something?
2. What is epistemic responsibility?
3. What is religion?
4. How does religion influence social norms in a society?
5. What’s the function of religion in a society?
6. Does it make our lives better?
7. How religion came to be in the first place?
8. What are differences between organized religion and unorganized
religion?
9. Some Famous arguments.
We should judge a thing through reason.
We need to find out is there any logical fallacy in the idea
presented in front of us.
We need to understand why religion doesn’t fit with our judging
category. What does Belief mean?

How we should judge something?

One way is through syllogism
 Syllogism:
 Endoxa (Literature review)
 Dialectics (find out the main set of opposite ideas)
 Laws of logic (A is not equal to not A)
 Deductive form
 Inductive evidence.

“Belief is Something You cannot prove through pure reason”

What is epistemic responsibility?

Thought experiment: There was a guy who owned a ship that he knew
was old and decrepit and hadn’t been inspected in a long time. That ship
was scheduled to make a transatlantic voyage and the owner worried that
it might not make it. But, overhauling the ship would be pricey and time-
consuming. In time, the owner talked himself into believing that the ship
was seaworthy. The ship set sailed. Then it sank. And hundreds of
people drowned. But the owner? He collected the money from the loss,
and no one blamed him for the tragedy.

We all agree that the shipowner was responsible.

But what if the ship never sinks? Would the shipowner be still held
responsible?
Some might say I can believe whatever I want unless it causes harm to
anyone.
But The act of shipowner is wrong because he didn’t have sufficient
evidence for his belief.
There is no such thing as a private belief because we all talk about our
beliefs and even if we don’t if shows in our actions or how we perceive
other things and how other perceive you. So, belief can spread even
without a word spoken.
So, our views always have potential to cause effect in others lives which
means having bad views will always have potential to cause bad effect
in others lives.
So, its our epistemic responsibility not to believe with enough evidence.
Example: A sexist in influential post.

Why God doesn’t fit into this category? (William James)

Live or Dead option.
Forced or Unforced
Momentous or Trivia

What is religion?
A social institution with a unified systematic beliefs and practices that
recognizes awe, inspiration and reverence.

How does religion influence social norms in a society?

Rituals. What is right or wrong is mostly defined what is right or
wrong given in the scripture.
Are you morally obliged to give some money to the poor?
Should you commit suicide?
Can you commit adultery?
 What’s the function of religion in a society?
The main purpose of the society is to create social cohesion.

Does it make our lives better?

Pros: Social Cohesion. Sense of morality. Purpose in life.
Cons: Inequality. A method to defend the change. Discrimination.
(Using Story of Abil and Cabel for justifying Slavery)
How religion came to be in the first place?
To understand how the world works around us.
Story: Demeter (Harvest god) Zeus, Persephone, Hades.

What are differences between organized religion and unorganized

religion?
The beliefs and practices of an organized religion are governed by
an official body, whereas such regulation is absent from
unorganized religion.

FAMOUS ARGUMENTS

Ontological Arguments:
Anslem:
God is the greatest thing we can think of.
Things can only exist in our imaginations, or they can also exist in
reality.
Things that exist in reality are always better than things that exist
only in our imaginations.
If God existed only in our imaginations, he wouldn’t be the
greatest thing that we can think of, because God in reality would
be better.
Therefore, god must exist in reality.

Reply: You can make this argument for anything you most
wanted!!

Aquinas:
Some things are caused.
Anything that’s caused has to be caused by something else.
There can’t be an infinite regress of causes.
So there must have been a first causer, itself uncaused.
And that is GOD.

If anything that’s caused has to be caused by something else then

why not the same ideas is applicable for GOD? Why GOD is an
exception? And If GOD can be an exception to those rules then
why can’t other things be exception as well.
 Important motions to talk about.

This House believes atheism is the only way.

This House believes that freedom of expression is more important

than religious sensitivities

THIS HOUSE BELIEVES IN GOD.

This house prefers secular governments that exclude all religion

from public spaces to those that allow all religions in public.

BOOKS:
Holy books
Brother’s Karamazov
VOLGA THEKE GONGA
SOTTER SONDHANE
BER HUR
The GOD DELUSION
The gay science
HISTORY OF GOD

MOVIES:
The seventh seal
STALKER
NOAH
Pk
2001 space odyssey
Shawshank redemption
Pulp fiction
SERIES:
STORY OF GOD
THE GOOD PLACE
MESSIAH
This suggestion is just a starter. Try to consume more content of the artists
involved in the above art pieces.