Part Two: Challenging Questions

In part two of this book, I present a list of some difficult questions that can challenge our religious beliefs. This is not intended to undermine or question your beliefs. Instead, it is intended to strengthen them.

As part of my practice of the religious method, I ask myself all these questions and I don’t accept “I don’t know” as a valid answer. This process helps me to identify areas where I still have work to do, or in some cases where I am completely stumped.

This is a challenging process. Anyone who is not comfortable having their beliefs subjected to challenging questions should think twice about using this list.

The religious method doesn’t involve proving that things are true. Religion doesn’t work that way. It is about identifying inconsistencies, contradictions and problems with our beliefs. Anything that survives this process is likely to be a resilient, consistent set of beliefs that doesn’t contradict our knowledge about the world.

We can apply these questions to any proposed set of beliefs. The goal of the religious method is to identify correct and useful beliefs.

NOTE: This is a first-draft list of questions. I use my own idiosyncratic terminology, which I try to explain. You can substitute terms as well as change the list of questions based on your individual practice of the religious method.

I have given enough questions to be useful in questioning beliefs. This is not an exhaustive list of questions. The number of questions to use when you practice the religious method is up to you. There are a lot more questions out there. It’s not a good idea to rush through them. It’s a good idea to take the questions seriously and answer them thoughtfully over time.

I’m stating them very briefly, to be simple and to avoid giving detailed opinions about them. The questions are grouped into sections and sub-sections. Some of the sections contain brief descriptions about the topic.

Here I am not usually capitalizing the word “god” because I am not referring to the specific “God” of any specific religion.

Religion

Purpose of Religion

This section contains basic questions about the purpose of religion. Why are we doing this? What is the role of human believers? Is religion responsible for explaining the deep nature of reality? What does this religion tell us about the difference between right and wrong, about morality?

What is the purpose of religion?

Belief

What is the function of religious belief in the lives of human beings?
What happens to human beings when they hold incorrect religious beliefs?
How can human beings arrive at a set of correct religious beliefs? How can we avoid having incorrect beliefs?

Altruism

Is religion altruistic? Or is it narcissistic? Or none of the above?
Is the purpose of religion to improve human outcome while we are alive? Is the purpose of religion to improve human outcome after we die?
Is the purpose of human life to glorify god, or to improve human outcome?
Is the purpose of religious practice to glorify god, or to improve human outcome?
Why does a being of infinite power and intelligence need human beings to believe in them? And to glorify them? What possible benefit could that provide to an infinitely powerful, infinitely intelligent god?

Reality

What is the deep nature of reality?
Is religion responsible for explaining the deep nature of reality, or is deep reality a side-issue for religion?

Morality

Morality basically asks what is the difference between right and wrong, and why?

What is the basis of moral principles? Do they come from divine commandments, or from human thinking?
Does the absence of a deity undermine morality, or not? Does the presence of a deity ensure that morality is correct, or not?
If ultimate reality is neutral, what is the basis of morality? If deep reality doesn’t define the meaning of good and evil, then how do we know the difference between moral and immoral behavior?
What are the obligations of a human being to the divine? What must we do, and what are the cosequences of failure to meet those obligations?
What are the prohibitions that the divine imposes on human actions? What must we avoid doing, and what are the consequences for breaking these rules? Are these prohibitions only about actions, or do they also cover beliefs and thoughts?

Religious Practice

Different religions have different practices. This should be based on beliefs. So the practice depends on what you believe.

What is the purpose of prayer? What benefits can we expect, or what harms from avoiding it?
What is the purpose of meditation? What benefits can we expect, or what harms from avoiding it?
What is the purpose of religious contemplation? What benefits can we expect, or what harms from avoiding it?
What are the purposes of each religious practice? What benefits can we expect, or what harms from avoiding them?
What is the purpose of each religious ritual? What benefits can we expect, or what harms from avoiding them?

Nature of the divine

The concept of “god” is very important in religious thought. Most religions have one or more gods who play a central part in the belief system. What is this god “like”? Some religions are non-theistic, and don’t use the word “god” at all. But all religions need to grapple with the deep reality of our existence. What is that reality “like”?

I use the word “god” here as it the shortest form. But “gods”, “the divine”, “deep reality” or other terms can be substituted as appropriate in these questions. I don’t capitalize it because I’m not speaking about a specific deity. Your beliefs are up to you, and I don’t want to make assumptions about them.

I use a term “infinite intelligence”. A traditional term is “omniscience” but that means all-knowing. I take infinite intelligence to mean both all-knowing and having unlimited brilliance.

Existence of god

The goal of these questions is to pin down the exact nature and identity of the divine. Fundamental characteristics and nature of divine existence and divine intelligence.

Does god exist?
What is god like?
Is god the ultimate reality of the universe? Is there a “reality” of the universe that is separate from god, or is the concept of “reality” itself defined by the existence and nature of god? Or is there no such thing as “reality”?
Is god the universe, or a specific being outside the universe, or is god part of the universe?
Is god a finite being, or an infinite being? How and where does an infinite being exist, and how is that possible? How could an infinite being arise?
Is god actively running the universe, or did god set the universe in motion and leave it to run on its own?
If god does not exist or is not the deep reality of the universe, then what is deep reality?
If you don’t beieve in god, then what is “ultimate reality”?
Is ultimate reality intelligent? Is it conscious?

Omnipotence

These questions ask what is the power or energy of the divine? How much power and energy, and how specifically is it applied to the universe?

Is god in control of everything, or are some things outside god’s control?
If god controls everything, how can human beings have free will?
If god does not control everything, how can god be omnipotent and sovereign over all?

Infinite Intelligence

Is god’s intelligence infinite or finite? What does it mean to have divine level intelligence?
Does the universe itself have intelligence? If so, how intelligent is the universe itself?
Omniscience. Does god know everything that is happening right now, everywhere in the universe? Is god simultaneously aware of the thoughts going through the minds of all the human beings on this planet? What about hypothetical intelligent beings on other planets, and in distant galaxies? Is god aware of every speck of dust flying around in the infinite cosmos?

Divine Foreknowledge

Does god already know everything that will happen in the future?
Are our choices predetermined?
If god perfectly knows the future, how can human beings have free will? How can human beings be held morally accountable?

Omni-benevolence

If god is all good, why do sincere human prayers go unanswered?
What criteria does god use to decide when to intervene, and how?
Why would a god that loves us, ignore our prayers?
Some people have made statements similar to the following. “A god that needs people to believe in a specific scripture, without evidence, and to reject all other competing scriptures and beliefs, sounds more like an insecure narcissist than an infinitely good, infinitely wise, infinitely powerful being.” How do you respond to such objections? How can this apparent contradiction be explained?

Creation and Cosmology

Did god create the universe? What specifically caused the universe to come into existence?
Was the universe created “from nothing”?
If the universe was created from nothing, then how was this accomplished?
If the universe was not created from nothing, then what ingredients were required for its creation?
What was it like before the universe was created? What was “happening” before the act of creation?
If god created the universe, then what created god? And if something created god, then what created that something? And so on… Is it turtles all the way down?
Did time itself begin with creation? And how did that happen? How could the act of creation occur without time being involved?
Why was the universe created? Did god have a choice about whether to create the universe? Why did god choose to create the universe?
Science tells us that the big bang wasn’t like an explosion. Immediately after the moment of creation, the universe expanded rapidly in an “inflationary” way. How does your religious teaching account for this?
What is the story of creation?
What is the difference between the story of creation and the science about the creation of the universe?
What is missing from the scientific account of the creation of the universe, and what does your belief system add to that account?
How does the creation of the universe affect how we understand cause and effect? Was there a “first cause”, and what caused the first cause?
How does the creation of the universe affect how we understand meaning and purpose?
Does the universe depend on god for its continued existence?
Did the universe have a beginning or is it eternal? Is the universe billions of years old, or thousands of years old, or infinitely old? If the universe has always existed, how do we explain the big bang?
Did time start at the moment of creation, or did something happen “before” the moment of creation?

Matter and Physics

Why is there more matter than antimatter in the universe?
How do your beliefs align with scientific theories about the big bang?
Why is most of the universe made of dark matter and dark energy?
Do thermodynamics and entropy pose a problem for this interpretation?
Why doesn’t gravity cause the universe to collapse down into a black hole?
If god does not exist, then what explains the creation of the universe?

Determinism

Has god pre-determined all outcomes beforehand?
If so, how can human beings be held morally accountable for their actions?
If not, how can god be omniscient without knowing the future?
Do causes produce effects due to natural laws of the universe?
How does determinism square with quantum randomness?
Can free will be compatible with determinism? And if so, how?
Is free will absolute, or constrained by deterministic laws? If free will is absolute, what is the mechanism it uses to avoid the laws of physics?
How do your answers align with scientific theories?
How do you explain the “randomness” required by the laws of physics? Why are the equations of physics probabilistic rather than deterministic?

Human Beings

When it comes to religion, most people want to know what is in it for them. What does this belief system tell us about the nature of human existence? Why are we here? What is our fate? What is our purpose? Religious belief systems are not easy to follow, and people are willing to accept more difficulties and inconveniences if they have a clear idea what the payoffs are.

Nature of Human beings

What are human beings?
Where did human beings come from?
What is the essential nature of a human being?
Are human beings created in the image of god? Is god created in the image of human beings?
What is the purpose of a human being?
Are human beings perfectable, or inherently imperfect?
Are human beings inherently shameful, inherently evil, or inherently good? Are they all of the above, none of the above, or some combination?

Free Will

If god perfectly knows the future, how can human beings have free will?
If our brains are subject to deterministic laws of physics, how can we have free will?

Consciousness

The “easy” problem of consciousness seeks to explain how brain states could cause the details of our experience. As neuroscience and cognitive science continue to advance, a lot of the details are being filled in by scientific theories. The “hard” problem of consciousness seeks to explain how physical electro-chemical interactions governed by the laws of physics and chemistry could ever create the kind of subjective conscious experience that human beings have. We can doubt that what we see is real, but the fact that we are having certain experiences puts those subjective experiences into a different epistemological category. A person in a desert looking at a distant oasis may believe that the oasis is merely a mirage, but there is no doubt about their subjective experience of seeing the oasis. They know for certain that they are seeing it, even if it is an illusion.

What causes human consciousness?
Is human consciousness caused by brain activity?
How does the cause of human consciousness square with the idea of a soul and an afterlife?
Do physical brain processes give rise to subjective awareness? And if so, then how?
Does the “hard” problem of consciousness prove that the mind is non-material? And if so, then how do we explain the fact that brain states and brain injuries have an effect on our consciousness?
Does all the matter in the universe contain a baseline “awareness”, or is it just “un-aware” matter? If it does, then where does this awareness come from? How can the awareness of individual atoms, molecules, cells and brain structures be combined together to form the unified, subjective consciousness that human beings experience?
If matter does not contain a baseline “awareness”, then how can “un-aware” bits of matter combine together to create the kind of irridescent, luminous consciousness that we experience as human beings?
Are intelligent computers consciousness? Do they have any sort of awareness, if they process and integrate information about the world?
Are animals conscious? Do they have any sort of conscious awareness?

The Soul

Are human beings purely material, physical entities?
Do human beings have an immaterial aspect?
What is the nature of the soul?
What is soul or spirit “made of”? What are its properties?
What happens to human consciousness after death?
How do we know about the soul, and the afterlife?
How does this compare to scientific understanding?
Does the soul persist after death?
How do human actions affect their souls after death?
If human beings are subjected to torment or bliss for an infinitely long time in the afterlife, then what prevents them from getting used to it and becoming bored and indifferent?

Human History

What was the origin of human beings?
What us the ultimate future fate of human beings?
Does human history have an inherent meaning, and an inherent purpose? Or is everything relative?

Truth and Purpose of Existence

Here we have questions about the nature of the truth itself. What is the purpose of our existence? What does it all mean? And what kinds of outcomes could be in store for human beings, both as individual and as a species?

Absolute Truth

Is there an “asbolute truth”, and do we have direct access to the absolute truth, or does it remain inaccessible to the human mind?
Do religious teachings tell us about “absolute truth”?
Does science bring us closer to the absolute truth?
Does philosophy bring us closer to the absolute truth?

Relative Truth

Is there a “relative truth”, distinct from the absolute truth, that human beings can know?
Does science bring us closer to “relative truth”?
Does religion tell us about the relative truth?
Does philosophy tell us about the relative truth?

Eschatology (Purpose / Outcome of life)

What happens to us after we die? How do our actions, during life, influence that outcome?
What is the ultimate fate of human life? What is it all leading up to, and how will it all end?
How are human beings accountable for their actions?
What is the purpose of human existence?
Based on the meaning of human existence, what should human beings do, and why? What happens if humans fail to act in accord with the meaning of human existence? What if those people have not been taught the truth? Is that any excuse? Does that change their outcome?

Dharma

Dharmic religions are a major branch of world religions. These religions may not be centered around the concept of a single creator god. They could be polytheistic or non-theistic. Dharmic religions raise an important set of issues about cause and effect, the self and the soul, liberation from suffering and the deep nature of reality.

Karma (Moral Cause and Effect)

Is moral causation (karma) deterministic, or is it compatible with free will?
If there is no omniscient god to judge us, then who or what administers karmic justice, and how is it administered?
If actions in past lives determine present circumstances, does this mean that people born into oppression and poverty are themselves to blame for the starvation, rape and murder that they are subjected to?
Can claims about the laws of karma be empirically tested? And if so, what do those tests show?
Can the laws of karma be reconciled with modern physics and neuroscience?
How does the scientific conception of cause and effect differ from karma?
How could claims about karmic justice be tested? Are they falsifiable? Does the concept of karmic justice lead to fatalism? Does it lend itself to the oppression of people born into unfavorable circumstances?

No Self / No Soul

Does the belief in karma and rebirth contradict the “no-self” view of Buddhism?
If human beings don’t have a soul or an independent self, then who or what experiences karma and rebirth?
If there is no soul that survives death, when who is reborn in the next lifetime? Who eventually passes into nirvana in the distant future?
If there is no enduring self, then what explains human consciousness as an integrated succession of instantaneous moments in time?
Why has science failed to detect anything that passes from one lifetime to the next?
Does the denial of an independently-existent self undermine human rights and human dignity?
If no self exists, what is reborn?
If no self exists, what attains liberation?
How can the lack of a permanent self be reconciled with moral accountability and karma?

Dharmic Self

If each human being is a temporal embodiment of a divine self that permanently exists, then what evidence supports the existence of such a divine self?
How can a permanent divine self interact with temporal matter, without being detectable by science or violating the laws of physics?
If there is a duality of self and non-self, then what specifically are we?

Liberation or Nirvana

What happens when a human being attains the final state of perfect enlightenment?
If this state involves the dissolution of the self and the cessation of thought, then why should we strive to attain such a state?
Can women attain liberation? For that matter, can men attain liberation?
Can animals attain liberation?
Are these answers consistent or inconsistent with the theory of evolution? At what point did human beings evolve to the point where they can attain liberation. Some dharmic teachings assert that femal bodies cannot attain liberation. If you believe this, then what specific biological or other factors explain this limitation?
What is the benefit of striving for liberation? Do these benefits rely on a belief in a separate self or ego?

Emptiness

Does the interdependent web of cause and effect deny that things possess intrinsic reality?
If everything is empty of independent existence, then how can we distinguish truth from falsity, reality from illusion?
How can the teachings of scripture be true, if the teachings themselves also lack intrinsic reality?
If everything in the universe is empty, then does anything truly exist, or is reality itself an illusion?
If reality is an illusion, and if we ourselves are an illusion, then why does it matter that we accumulate merit and good karma, or achieve ultimate liberation?

Taoism

If the whole universe is one entity, how do individual beings have any reality?
Can a neutral structure provide moral guidance?
If nature is neutral and indifferent, what is the benefit of non-action?
Which religious interpretation of karma, dao, dharma, emptiness, soul or no-soul should be considered correct, and why? Are any of them correct? Are all of them correct, and if so, how do you explain the contradictions between them?
Are the claims of the Tao internally consistent?
What evidence supports the existence of the Tao?

Epistemology

Epistemology is the study of how we know things. How do we know if something is true? What is knowledge, even? These questions are very challenging for religion, which often requires believers to accept a specific set of beliefs without questioning them.

Nature of Knowledge and Belief

What is Knowledge?
What is Belief?

Truth, Knowledge and Belief

How do we know about the truth of our existence?
What is the basis of religious teachings?

Where Knowledge Comes From

Perception

Is knowledge gained through perception reliable?
Why do some people gain false knowledge through perceptions, while others gain true knowledge?

Reason

Is knowledge gained through rational thought and inference reliable?
Why do some people gain false knowledge through reason, while others gain true knowledge?

Memory

Are our memories reliable?
If we remember spiritual teachings, how do we know that our memories are not misleading us?

Introspection

Is introspection a reliable way to gain religious knowledge?

Testimony

Why should we believe the testimony of scripture?
Why should we deny the testimony of opposing scripture?

Direct Experience as Knowledge

Role of Direct Experience

Does direct experience provide evidence for religious claims?
Can direct experience of the divine be influenced by neurobiology?
Is it valid to use psychedelics or other substances to gain direct religious experience?

Subjectivity of Experience

If practitioners from other religions have direct experiences that contradict our teachings, then should we reject the validity of those experiences, and why or why not?

Mystical and Religious Experience

What are the characteristics of mystical experiences?
Should we accept mystical experiences as the basis of our beliefs?
If these mystical experiences have a physical cause in the brain, does that affect their validity?

Epistemological Challenges

Epistemology of Religious Belief

Why should we believe in a religion with core claims that disagree with or contradict each other?

Ontology: The Nature of Being

Ontology is the study of what exists. It challenges our basic assumptions about the nature of reality. What kinds of things is reality itself made of? What kinds of characteristics (“universals”) do those things have? Because religion is telling us what to believe about the true reality of our existence, ontology has a lot of challenging questions to ask.

Substance, Properties and Universals

What is substance?
What are the basic ways that things can “be”?
What is the structure of the world?
What are the building blocks of reality?
What are universals? Do they exist? What is universally real in the universe?
How can things have properties?
Are there immaterial substances?
Is soul an immaterial substance?
Do objects possess inherent attributes?
Are properties universals?
Is space a kind of substance?
Is time a kind of substance?
Is space a medium?
Is time a medium?

Modality (Possibility, Necessity)

What is the nature of possibility and necessity?
What makes a proposition necessarily true?
What makes a proposition contingently true?
Do “merely possible worlds” exist?
If so, what is the nature of possible worlds?
Are there entities that “must” exist? Is god such an entity?

Space and Time

What is space?
What is time?
Are there three dimensions of space, and one dimension of time?
Or are there more dimensions? And if so, what are they?
Is time a real, objective feature of the world?
Is space an illusion?
Is space a container?
Is space a real, objective feature of the world?
Is space just a set of relationships between things?
Is time an illusion, a construction of consciousness?
Is time linear or cyclical?
Are space and time finite, or infinite?
Did time have a beginning? What happened “before” time began?
Did space have a beginning? If space did not exist before the universe was created, then “where” was the universe created?
If time has an end, then what happens after that?
If space is finite, then what exists beyond the limits of space?

Identity, Persistence and Change

Can there be time without change?
Is causation an objective feature of the world?
What does it mean for one event to be a cause of another?
Are all events determined by the sum of their causes?
Is determinism compatible with free will?
How do objects persist through time?
What is the nature of the identity of something?
If a thing changes over time, how does it maintain its identity?
Do entire objects continuously exist at each moment?
Is change a fundamental feature of reality?
Is change an illusion?

Metaphysics

We already discussed ontology, which is a branch of metaphysics. There is some overlap between these questions and the ones in the previous section. This section is more broad, and it prepares us for the questions about physics that come in the next section.

Basic Questions

What is the ultimate reality of the universe?
Is reality made of material, information or spirit? Or all of the above, or something else entirely?
What is substance, and where did it come from?
What is consciousness, and what produces it?
What is the universe made of?
What kinds of things truly exist at the level of deep reality?
What is the deep reality of everyday objects “like”?
Is everything in the universe ultimately made of one kind of thing, or many kinds? And what kinds, specifically?

Existence and First Causes

What exists?
What is existence? What does it mean to exist?
What was the first cause, that started off the chain of cause and effect?
What does not change? What aspects of reality are unchanging?
Is existence the same as being?
Is existence a property of things?

Time and Eternity

Does time go on forever?
Is god temporary or eterrnal?
How can an eternal being exist in a temporary world?
How can an eternal being cause temporary effects in the world?

Metaphysics and Religion

Can metaphysics be helpful to religion?
Is it possible for religion to avoid metaphysics altogether?
What is the best way to engage with metaphysics in religion?
Is it possible for a secular worldview to avoid metaphysics?
Are metaphysical assumptions necessary to understand religious teachings?

Science

The religious method includes an effort to avoid contradicting science. Theories of physics, biology and other sciences answer a subset of questions that religion also answers.

In this section we are asking questions that science can’t answer, and that many scientists don’t like to talk about. But this is a book about religion, and the religious method specifically prevents us from escaping these questions.

Physics

Ancient scriptures were written before physics figured out motion, gravity, relativity or quantum theory. These theories revealed a lot about how the universe works. That raises big challenges for religion. It is very challenging for religion to interpret physics.

Relativity, which describes very big things, tells us that time flows more slowly for an object moving at high speeds. That gravity actually “bends” the fabric of space and time. And that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.

Cosmology tells us that the universe is expanding.

Quantum theory, which describes very small things, is by far the strangest and most challenging theory to understand.

It describes the laws of physics as a set of probabilities, where the act of measuring something causes it to randomly choose from an infinite set of equally-probable outcomes.
Where particles become “entangled” and can instantaneously influence each other across vast distances.
Where a single particle appears to take multiple paths to reach its destination.
It suggests that consciousness could influence physical outcomes, or that there could be an infinite number of parallel universes.

Quantum theory is the most successful theory in the history of science. But quantum theory and relativity contradict each other, and scientists are struggling to combine them. The border area between relativity and quantum theory is filled with paradoxes. Do our beliefs lose their coherence in this uncharted territory between the very large and the very small? Does that threaten our deepest beliefs? Or can an elegant religious interpretation somehow hope to bridge the gap between relativity and quantum physics?

Should religion adopt a specific metaphysical interpretation of physics, or should religion stay out of physics and ignore metaphysics entirely?

Quantum Reality

About a trillion times a second, every quantum particle appears to move along an infinite number of paths leading to an infinite number of destinations. The chance of it taking each of those paths is based on the “action” of the path. Meaning that the universe prefers inexpensive paths to expensive ones. The particle chooses one of those paths based on random probability.

The rules that govern very small things sound miraculous. A set of beliefs that gets them right is on sturdier ground than a set of beliefs that gets them wrong.

Providing absolute answers is definitely the purpose of religion. Scientists can’t answer these questions because science does not provide absolute answers about the nature of reality. That responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of religion.

Are elementary particles (quarks, electrons) fundamental entities of reality?
Are macroscopic objects “non-fundamental”?
Do an infinite number of parallel universes exist, and if so, how, and what implications does this have for god? Is the same god in charge of all the parallel universes, or is there a separate god for each parallel universe?
Does the universe select a single real outcome, and if so, how, and what implications does this have for god?
What interpretation of quantum reality is correct? What is the deep reality of things-in-themselves that explains quantum physics?
What implications does quantum reality have for god?
What implications does quantum reality have for human free will?

Measurement, Super-Position and Collapse

Physics describes quantum events as a set of mathematical probabilities. Before quantum values are measured, they have many values simultaneously rather than a single value. As soon as they are measured, a single value is randomly chosen. A wave instantaneously collapses into a particle.

In understanding the following questions, it is important to know that physics theories explain the behavior of the universe as probabilistic waves, but physics experiments measure these behaviors as definite particles. This “wave collapse” contradiction is one of the hardest problems in quantum reality. Some interpretations of quantum reality assert that human consciousness is involved in wave collapse, but that is not the mainstream interpretation.

Why are the laws of physics probabilistic rather than deterministic?
Why do waves (probabilistic outcomes) appear to collapse into particles (definite outcomes) when measured?
What happens when a physicist measures the outcome of a quantum event?
Does human consciousness cause wave collapse? What specifically causes wave collapse?

Matter and Energy

What is matter? What is the deep reality behind matter?
What is energy? What is the deep reality behind energy?
Is there any measurable physical entity or energy corresponding to the soul, or qi, or the mind separate from the brain? If so, why has science failed to measure it?

Consistency and Testability

What does it mean that your religious teachings are untestable?
What does it mean that your religious teaching contains inconsistencies?

Existence of Reality

Does reality exist?
Is reality a mistaken concept?

Nature of Reality

Why are the conditions in the universe perfect for intelligent life, when a slight change to the constants of physics would make it impossible for us to exist?
Are the laws of the universe “tuned” to be conducive to the evolution of intelligent life? And if so, does this “tuning” of the universe imply the existence of god?
Is this the only universe, or are there other universes where the laws of physics might work differently? If so, how did this occur? What caused the laws of physics to be created, and how?
Why is the speed of light an absolute limit?
If there is only a single universe and waves really collapse into particles, they need to do this instantaneously, and information needs to pass between entangled particles faster than the speed of light. This appears to violate relativity. How does your religion explain that?
If waves do not collapse into particles, then there are an infinite number of parallel universes, and different things are happening in each of these many universes. There could be copies of ourselves in many of those universes, having similar or completely different life experiences. How does your religion explain that? What does it mean for the soul, and for human identity?
Physics relies on the “anthropic principle” to explain the fine-tuning of the laws of physics. This suggests that there could be other universes where the laws of physics operate in a completely different way. Does that contradict your religion? If not, how could that occur?

Evolutionary Biology

Ancient scriptures were written before the advent of evolutionary biology. Natural selection, DNA, the gradual evolution of primordial creatures into human beings, the ethics of genetics and inheritance, all pose critical challenges to ancient ways of thinking.

How does the theory of evolution by natural selection align with your religious interpretation?
How does your creation story align with theories of natural selection?
Did human beings gradually evolve from ape-like ancestors over millions of years?
Were there human ancestors somewhere “in between” humans and apes?
What does it mean that there are fossils of extinct species, including species that show progressive evolution in the distant past?
Did our pre-human ancestors have souls?
Do apes have souls?
Do animals have souls?
Do plants and fungi have souls?
Did life evolve naturally when simple biochemistry gradually became more complex over time, with RNA gradually gaining the ability to replicate itself in increasingly complex and sustainable ways? Was god involved in this process? What does this process tell us about the “purpose” and “duties” of human beings?
If genetics determines the traits of an organism, how can souls be reborn as different species?
Does karma influence evolutionary outcomes?

Neurology and Cognitive Science

The scientific study of the mind and the brain raises critical issues about the nature of conscious experiences, free will, and the soul. Scientists have made a lot of progress explaining the content of our minds as a series of brain processes. The trajectory of neurology suggests that we will one day be able to explain all human mental experience as brain activity.

When we have religious experiences, including mystical experiences, are those caused entirely by brain states? Or is there something else going on?
Why do specific brain states produce feelings of religious awe?
Why do specific brain states proudce the feeling of being in the presence of god?
Why do specific brain states produce mystical experiences?
Is spiritual experience generated by neural circuits?
Are religious experiences authentic? Is the brain a channel through which divine communication is received?
Science experiements indicate that brain activity starts before conscious choices are made. How, then, does the soul determine our behavior?

Genetics and Bio-Engineering

Is it evil for human beings to conduct genetic research?
Is cloning evil?
Is gene editing evil?
Does biotechnology have the potential to disrupt family relationships and lineage? Is that a religious issue that impacts the morality of scientific research?
Is the destruction of an embryo equivalent to murder?
Are geneticists “playing god” when they clone organisms and edit genomes?
Will we be able to create super-intelligent post-humans through genetic engineering, and does this challenge our religious beliefs?

Longevity

Is it wrong for medicine to cure diseases that were traditionally thought to be god’s will, or punishments for immoral behavior?
If science and medicine are able to cure aging, what impact does that have on our beliefs about morality and the afterlife?

Psychology

All human cultures have developed different religious beliefs. This seems to point to an inherent human need to invent deeper explanations for everything we see. And this same need caused people in the past to invent the religion that you currently believe in. It also caused other people to invent all the religions that you disagree with.

Why should we believe that your specific religious interpretation is correct, and all the other competing interpretations are false?
Does the human need to invent meaning and deeper explanations undermine religious belief? Or is it an inherent capacity to sense the divine, and if so, where does it come from?
Can secular philosophy meet the same intrinsic needs that religion satisfies?

Climate Science

The evidence continues to pile up, that human activity is changing the environment in ways that may threaten human existence. The ability of science to explain many things that happen in the world, and the predictions that it makes about the future, are threatening social norms. Religion is one major battleground area, where that conflict is occurring.

Human activity is changing Earth’s climate. The temperature is getting higher, and species are going extinct.

Has god given human beings “stewardship” over the world that god has created for us?
Are human beings responsible for taking care of the planet we live on? And if so, then in what way? And if not, then who is? And how is that going right now?
Our bodies are increasingly filled with poisons and micro-plastics. Is that true? Is that our fault? Will god punish us for trashing his planet?
What actions are we responsible for taking, in light of the impact we are having on the planet?
Now that scientists have explained earthquakes, disease, eclipses, tsunamis, droughts, plagues of locusts, sexually-transmitted diseases, pandemic plagues and other misfortunes, how do we interpret disastrous outcomes from a moral perspective? Are they punishments from god, or neutral natural events? And why would god create natural laws that allow for disastrous human outcomes?

Challenges to god

God is hard to understand, and harder to explain. What is our concept of the divine? Is it coherent, or does it contain contradictions?

The concept of god or the divine is hard to grasp, and many objections have been raised over the centuries. By facing these questions head-on, the religious method seeks to help us to develop a more solid concept of the divine that can withstand life’s many challenges.

Omnipotence

Can god do the logically impossible (e.g. create a ‘square circle’)?
Can god violate the laws of physics?
What are the limits of divine omnipotence?
Are these limits imposed by an external entity, or by logic and possibility, or by the laws of the universe? Or are there no limits to what god can do?

Omniscience

I generally use the term ‘infinite intelligence’, but these questions relate specifically to omniscience. Is god all-knowing?

Does omniscience contradict free will? If god knows everything before it happens, then how is free will possible?
Does omniscience contradict moral accountability? If god knows everything before it happens, then how can human beings be held morally accountable for their actions?

Altruism

These questions ask about god’s positive intentions for human beings.

If god is benevolent, then why would god have created a universe where all human beings are condemned to suffer while they are alive?
If god is benevolent, then why would god have created a universe where the majority of human beings are condemned to suffer eternally after death?

Theodicy and the Problem of Evil

Evil is one of the most difficult problems for religion to explain. Many people lose their faith after a personal crisis or societal tragedy causes them to question religious teachings about good and evil.

How can god stand by and allow great evil to exist in the world?
How can god stand by and allow human suffering to exist in the world?
How can god allow the wicked to prosper while the good are subjected to evil, suffering and tragedy?
Is suffering a good thing?
When is god okay with suffering?
How can evil exist in a world created by an all-powerful, all-knowing and all-good god?
Is it possible to justify god in the face of evil? What is that justification?
Does god permit evil for a good reason? What is that reason, and why?

Divine Hiddenness

If god wants us to believe, then why does god remain hidden?
If we are required to believe in religious teachings, then why is there so much contradictory evidence, and such a profound lack of positive evidence to support those teachings?
Why has the one true god not appeared to people in distant cultures where a different, heretical set of beliefs is practiced?

Divine Attributes and Coherence

What is the nature of god?
Is god simple or complex?
Is god immutable (unchanging) or changeable?
If god is changeable, does this limit god? Does it mean that god is affected by causes? And if so, how can an omnipotent entity be affected by causes?
If god is simple, immutable, omnipotent, omniscient and perfectly good, do these attributes contradict each other?

Divine Simplicity and Coherence

The concept of divine simplicity states that god is utterly simple, not composed of parts. One goal of this concept is to avoid problems with the concept of an infinitely good, infinitely perfect, omniscient, eternally unchanging god.

Is god absolutely simple (divine simplicity)? This means indivisible, without parts?
How can an absolutely simple god possess multiple attributes, such as love, justice and mercy?
What is the human understanding of god’s attributes, and is it correct?
Is god complex? Does god have multiple parts? Are these parts lesser than infinite?
If god is absolutely simple, how can god be omniscient? How can all the complex knowledge of everything throughout space and time be contained in an entity of absolute simplicity, with no parts and no attributes?

Divine Immutability and Action

How can an unchanging god interact with a world where everything is changing?
How does god act in the world? If human beings violate god’s commandments, are they “causing” god to punish them? And if so, does that mean that god’s power is less than infinite?
Does god intervene in reality, or just set reality in motion, like winding a clock that runs by itself?

Challenges to Religious Belief

There are a number of direct challenges to religious belief that don’t necessarily fit into the categories we have created above. In this final section, we present some of those questions.

Controversy

The majority of people in the world do not believe your religion. Why is this so?
The majority of people in the world have forceful arguments to make, that your religion is not correct. Why should we not believe the majority view about your beliefs?
If religious beliefs are required for salvation, then why are they not obviously true? Why is suspension of disbelief, skepticism and critical thinking required to maintain religious beliefs?

Challenges from Epistemology

Epistemology is generally about knowledge. The epistemology of religion asks how we know that religious beliefs are true.

Authority of Religious claims

Why should we believe divine commands?
Why should we obey religious commandments that seem wrong or don’t make sense to us?
What should we believe scripture that describes divine actions that seem wrong, such as an egocentric god, a fearful god, or a god who does not know certain things?
Can religious thought become more rigorous and adaptable?

Necessary Existence

Why is there something instead of nothing?
What explains the existence of the univese?
If god created everything, then how was god created?
How did god come into being?
Is god an uncaused first cause?
Can god exist without a cause?
Is god a necessary being?
Is the concept of necessary existence coherent?
Is the universe contingent or necessary?

Justification of Belief

How can we obtain knowledge about god that justifies our belief?
How can we justify our belief in anything that is beyond observation?
Why is god’s existence not obvious to so many people?
How can human language adequately describe god?
Is religious teaching literally true, allegorical, metaphorical, or partly false?
Why are there so many contradictory religions?
How can we know which religion is true?
How can we know about god without direct personal experience?

Burden of Proof

Where does the burden of proof lie, in religious discussions?
Does the existence of evil contradict the existence of god?
Given religious teachings, how do we explain why the world appears the way that it does?

Lack of Evidence

Science has found evidence to support some religious claims (including certain historical events described in scripture), but a complete lack of evidence for the existence of god, the soul, the afterlife, or rebirth. Why should we believe such claims, when there is no evidence to support them?
There is no evidence to support the dualistic interpretation of mind, that there is a physical brain and a separate “mind” or “soul” that can persist after death. Scientific experiments have found no evidence of this, even in cases where dualistic interpretations make specific predictions that we ought to be able to measure. What is the relationship of the mind and soul to the brain? How can something survive after death? Why should we believe this, when there is no evidence to support it?

Divine Action, Miracles and Natural Laws

What are the laws of nature?
Are the laws of nature commands (what must happen) or descriptions of how things work?
Can god override the laws of nature, causing miracles?
If so, how does this relate to scientific theories?
If not, how do we explain the miracles described in scripture?
If scripture comes from an omniscient entity (god), then why does it contain incorrect descriptions of cosmology, biology and physics?
Why doesn’t scripture describe the laws of physics correctly, if it comes from the entity that created those laws?

Morality and Divine Command

Is god the ultimate ground of morality?
Are moral principles only binding because they come from god?
Is something good because god commands it, or does god command it because it is good?
Could morals exist without god? What is the basis of morality?