AQA GCSE Religious Studies (8062) · Paper 2
🔭 Theme C: Existence of God
Revision notes written to the specification, with examiner tips and the required practicals. Every point here has flashcards in the Stickwise app.
Arguments & revelation
Design argumentThe order and complexity seen in the world, such as the eye or the fine-tuning of the universe, is argued to imply a designer, as in Paley's analogy of a watch implying a watchmaker. Rebuttals include the argument that evolution can produce the appearance of design without a designer, that examples of poor design and suffering count against it, and that any designer need not be the God of the Bible.
First Cause argumentThis argument holds that every effect has a cause, and that this chain of causes must have a starting point, an uncaused First Cause, which Aquinas identified with God. A common rebuttal asks what caused God, and suggests that if God can be uncaused, the universe might equally be uncaused.
MiraclesMiracles are events that science cannot explain, such as those reported at Lourdes, understood by believers as God acting in the world. Hume argued that a mistake, coincidence or fraud is always more likely than a genuine breaking of a law of nature.
Against GodArguments against God's existence include the problem of evil, the advancing explanatory power of science, and unanswered prayer or God's hiddenness. Each has standard theistic replies, appealing to free will, soul-making, or the mystery of God's ways.
RevelationGeneral revelation comes through nature and conscience, available to everyone, while special revelation comes through visions, scripture and Jesus, given more personally. Doubts raised against revelation include that such experiences are private, unverifiable and shaped by culture; believers reply that God can be known in part through revelation, even if not known in full.
The Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries argued that reason, rather than tradition or revelation, is the route to truth. Some thinkers used reason to support belief in God, for example through the design and first cause arguments; others concluded that reason alone cannot prove God and moved towards deism or scepticism. In an exam answer, treat it as a source of knowledge that can be used both for and against belief in God.
🎯 Examiner tip: Learn each argument in four steps: the claim, the logic behind it, the best objection, and a possible reply. Examiners reward this objection-and-reply exchange far more than a longer, one-sided list of points.
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