2. Assess the success or otherwise of one critique of religion. (12)
2. Assess the importance Dukheim's claims about the respective strengths and weaknesses of religious beliefs . (12)
2. Assess the significance of the claim 'The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of Religion'. (12)
2. Assess the importance of Freud's psychological mechanism he calls ‘wish-fulfilment’ as a critique of religion. (12)
2 Assess the strengths of claim that Religion is a form of Neurosis a psychological crutch. (12)
2. Assess the credibility of the sociological explanation of religion. (12)
2 Assess the weakness of the psychological explanation of religion. (12)
2. Assess whether the sociological OR psychological critique demonstrates that there is no God. (12)
2 Assess the strengths of claim the existence of evil, diversity of religious belief, and naturalistic explanations of unusual phenomena demonstrate concussively God does not exist. (12)
2 Assess the strengths of claim There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.' (12)
2 Assess the strengths of the postmodern interpretations of religion. (12)
2. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of postmodernism.. (12)
Postmodernism is a philosophy that says absolute truth does not exist. Supporters of postmodernism deny long-held beliefs and conventions and maintain that all viewpoints are equally valid. In a postmodern world there are no universal religious or ethical laws, everything is shaped by the cultural context of a particular time and place and community. Individuals in this world work with their religious impulses, by selecting the bits of various spiritualities that 'speak to them' and create their own internal spiritual world.
Some would argue that this a positive development in religion because allowing religious beliefs to develop organically by society ensures that they are relevant to both the time and people that ‘use them’. For example, many of the traditional holy books condemn the practice of divorce yet this may be more for reasons relating to the time, eg the inability of women to support themselves in a male dominated society and so this negative attitude is no longer necessary in today’s contemporary society where there are no restrictions on a woman earning a living.
Some however would object to this on the grounds that many of our laws and those of other countries around the world are based on laws from holy books such as the Bible, this suggests that organised religion is still relevant. For example, ‘Do not kill’, ‘Do not steal’ are laws in practically every country around the world which suggests that organised religion still has a place. Furthermore, postmodernism leads to moral relativism, a situation where there is no absolute right or wrong. Without an absolute, we are unable to condemn any types of behaviour. For example, if there is no absolute stance on the taking of human life being wrong, then we can have no recourse against those who take the lives of others to further their own gains such as terrorists.
However, postmodernism could still be seen as a better alternative to traditional organised religions as allowing people to develop their own idea of religious belief removes the need for leaders of religion which could be seen as a good thing as there have been examples of corruption and inappropriate behaviour in the past. For example, child abuse scandals have damaged the credibility of the Catholic Church in recent years such as the Smyllum Park Orphanage scandal in which survivors claims to have been physically and sexually abused.
In conclusion, I am inclined to agree with a postmodern approach to religion as it helps to ensure that religion remains relevant and hopefully removes the opportunity for positions of power that could ultimately be abused.
2 Assess the strengths of claim that Human beings should seek happiness in this life and help others to do the same. (12)
2 Assess the humanist claim that religion hinders human human progress. (12)
2 Assess the anti-theist view that religion is the root and cause of evil, and a mind virus that should be resisted. (12)
2 Assess the weaknesses of claim it is not possible to know whether God exits, or to know his nature. (12)
2 Assess the view that the critiques of religion support an agnostic rather than an atheist view. (12)
2 Assess the significance of Dawkins claims that religion is the 'root of all evil.' (12)
2 Assess the extent to which the the suspicion of religion by Westphal is justified.' (12)
2 Assess the ideas of Richard Dawkins about religion. (12)
2 Assess the ideas of M Westphal about religion (12)