Flawed Logic—Rebuttals to Arguments Against the Existence of God

Dawkins' Argument Against the Existence of God
Richard Dawkins, a prominent critic of creationism [1], claims that God’s existence is merely impossible. He explained a reason that drove him to such conclusion in his famous book, The God Delusion, by saying the following:
“Any creative intelligence, of sufficient complexity to design anything, comes into existence only as the end product of an extended process of gradual evolution. Creative intelligence, being evolved, necessarily arrives late in the universe, and therefore cannot be responsible for designing it. God, in the sense defined, is a delusion; and, as later chapters will show, a pernicious delusion.” [2]
In other words, Dawkins assumes that if God exists then He has to be a very complex entity and according to His complexity, He has to be an end product of an evolution; therefore, He has to arrive late in the universe. Thus He cannot be the initiator or the creator of the universe. According to Dawkins, this argument is enough proof for the absence of God.

Flaws in Dawkins' Argument
As we see, one can easily recognize the flaws of Dawkins' argument and conclusion. He assumed that our universe started simple and then got more complicated through the gradual process of evolution. However, I see that this rule applies to man’s own invention. Everything man creates starts off simple, but with further research, investigations, and effort, it develops and matures. But this does not apply to God’s creations, for everything God created is very complex even if it appears simple. A tiny leaf is complex with its photosynthesis; the bacteria cell is very complex in design and function. [3] Any living being that comes to life is complex. What makes living beings alive is rather complex and indefinable. Dawkins also overlooked the fact that evolutionary theory has not been confirmed yet; as the theory is still lacking some data like the missing links between generations. Moreover, equation(s) that should derive some important missing information, like the rate of mutation, are also unavailable.
There is another major flaw in Dawkins' argument which is, according to him, if God exists, He has to arrive late in the universe by gradual evolution! If that is so, then Dawkins assumes that God is subject to the rules of evolution! However, if we assume that evolution is real, then it will be a principle created by God, which He applied to His creation. Believing that God is subject to a rule He made is like expecting a TV manufacturer to behave according to the rules he applied on what he manufactured, that is to say, he should move by remote control! [4]
Other Flawed Arguments Against the Existence of God
Some people try to deny God’s existence by assuming rules that have never been proven, like parallel universes, which imply that our universe is not the only one, but there are many other universes that are parallel to each other. Thus, life has come by chance in one of them, which is our universe! [5] And I wonder if a single universe needs to be created by God, then why should we expect multiverses (if they exist) to be any different?
Some others argue that the belief in God is a kind of psychological disorder, a mental illness, in some sense, that fulfills a psychological need. They claim that religion is a crutch to use in the hard times. [6] However, I believe that the need for God is a proof of His existence. A lost child that seeks his mother certainly doesn’t negate her existence but proves it. In this context, the famous scholar Mustafa Mahmoud says: “Just as our thirst for water is a proof that it exists, our yearning for justice is a proof to us that a just Being exists.” [7]

The Unawareness of Atheists
I once asked the famous scholar Dr. Hassan Hathout, about his opinion regarding people who deny God, he answered: “To me, people who don’t believe in God look like a person standing in front of a lamp watching his shadow on the wall and moving his hand and his body and watching the movement of the shadow with his own movements and thinking that it is him that created the shadow and it is him that created the movements he is seeing the shadow doing, completely blind to the source of light because the source of light is behind him. That is the person who doesn’t recognize God. He is unable to see. He is under the deception that what he sees is his own making, his own interpretation, his own creation, he does not have the logic that tells him no it is not you, it is the light behind you that is the source of your image and its movement.” [8]

Believing in God is a Part of Human Nature
Believing in God has been experienced since the dawn of humanity; it coincides with the basic human logic which says that there is no watch without a watchmaker. Also, it is very natural and it goes along with our instinct. The philosopher Prof Stelzer said in this regard:
“We are born believing; how come a little child, who is the weakest and has no power, has got so much trust?! It is impossible to gain trust from experiences in this life. Because most of the things you can experience in this world give you the opposite from trust; they give you distrust and suspicion. That is why when most human beings grow up, they become more and more suspicious and distrustful unless they have faith. So in that sense, I am not saying that the baby is born in order to have faith, I am saying the baby is born with faith, and it may either lose it or diminish it, or it may increase in faith or keep its faith, but these are all possibilities.” [9]

Certainly, in a very sincere moment, every one of us has felt God deep inside, especially when we need Him most and this is enough evidence of His existence.
Is there enough evidence to believe in God?
Is there enough evidence to deny the existence of God?
References
[1] Creationism is the religious belief that humanity, life, and the universe were created by a deity.
[2] Richard Dawkins. (2006). The God Delusion, Chapter 2, Bantam Press, Page 31.
[3] http://www.icr.org/article/just-how-simple-are-bacteria/
[4] Mustafa Mahmoud has drawn a similar analogy in his book A discussion with an atheist when he was refuting the question of who created God, page 7.
[5] http://www.slate.com/bigideas/are-we-alone/essays-and-opinions/Zeeya-Merali-opinion
[6] Dr. Matthew Whoolery. Psychology unit head at the American University in Cairo. (2007). Do you believe? A documentary produced by Salma Hassaballa,
[7] Dr. Mostafa Mahmoud. (2000). Dialogue with an Atheist, Chapter 1, Dar Al Taqwa Ltd. 1994, Second Edition, P. 6 - 7.
[8] Dr. Hassan Hathout. (2007). Do you believe? A documentary produced by Salma Hassaballa.
[9] Prof. Dr. Steffen Stezler. Chair of the Philosophy Department at the American University in Cairo. (2007). Do you believe? A documentary produced by Salma Hassaballa.
Comments
//part 2 of 2//
Next you say I shouldn't be presumptuous and think I know what religious people think. Your point is well taken, but I would recommend you take your own advise, especially when you write that atheists "want" to deny God. This point is also quite self-destructive, since your argument hinged on the exact same thing I did; assuming what believers think. You can really only speak for yourself.
Then the part about your case for design. You state that I commit the special pleading fallacy somehow by excluding natural things from being designed and that I should provide adequate justification for their exclusion. This is known as shifting the burden of proof. You made the claim that nature is intelligently designed, and now you are trying to saddle me with the burden of having to prove it isn't, which I will not accept of course. I pointed out that the examples you used, a tree and a building, aren't analogous. I will let David Hume further address this point, as he also refuted the argument back in 1779:
"Although we know that man-made structures were designed because we have seen them being built, the analogy does not hold for non-man-made structures. For the analogy to hold, the theist must be able to demonstrate that natural objects in the universe (such as trees, rocks and humans) were manufactured in some way. In fact, our ability to recognize design depends on our ability to discern characteristics that are not found in nature, and designed objects such as watches and airplanes stand in stark contradistinction to the characteristics of natural objects such as rocks and trees. When we see a watch, we may look for a watchmaker, but when we see a dog, it does not follow that we would look for a dog-maker, because we know that dogs are produced through the well-understood natural processes of mammalian reproduction. Proof of design cannot therefore be produced within the context of nature itself."
I was very disappointed to read this statement from you: "The theory (of evolution) fails to explain how life is created in the first place (...)." First of all, why assume in your question that life was created? Second, the theory of evolution ONLY explains how life diversified, NOT how it came to be. You then state that the theory of evolution can't account for things like the human desire for survival (evolutionary psychology actually can) or why beautiful things survive (for reasons other than that they are beautiful) and how living things came to be (that's not what it's for).
In closing, I would recommend you do some reading on what the atheist position actually is. It's not a belief, it's the exact opposite; it's the absence of one particular belief. I would never claim to be perfectly objective, but I do try to be. I do not simply believe that life existed millions of years ago without evidence; there are mountains of evidence, and I can point you to it. The thing is, no theist ever actually reads any of it. They all ask for evidence of this and that, and when I give them a list, suddenly all goes quiet.
You give me a list of things you call evidence for God, I presume, but you don't explain why these things are evidence for a God in the first place. Please connect the dots for me. How is DNA evidence for God? How is the universe evidence for God? How are moral guidelines evidence for God?
I do appreciate your responses and I hope we can put this evolution-denial business behind us. I can point you to all the scientific literature you need, but only if you are actually willing to go read it. The articles I listed in this response are a good start.
Kind regards, Johannes.
Hi Salma, thank you for your response. I will address your points in order of appearance as I did last time. I will try to be concise, but with subject matter like this that isn't always possible.
I believe I pointed out in my last response that science will never give you absolute certainty. If you require 100% verification before accepting a theory then most of science goes out the window immediately. You state that there is no consensus on evolution, but you are actually wrong there; the consensus in the scientific community for the last century has been that evolution has occurred. Please note that consensus doesn't mean that 100% of scientists in relevant fields agree; if we require that then there is no consensus on anything anymore. There are those scientists who think the earth is flat, believe it or not.
I would also like to address what you mention is reasearch against the theory of evolution. There is no peer reviewed scientific research that goes against the theory of evolution. There are many books, yes, but there is no system in place to allow peer review on books; anyone can publish whatever they like. This is not the case for scientific publications. Only work that can be verified by passing peer review is actually published and that is where you need to go for information on science; scientific publications. I would never point someone to a book by Dawkins on evolution; I would point to peer-reviewed scientific research by him and many others.
There is a good reason Behe and others refuse to offer their work for publication in peer reviewed journals; they know it won't pass peer review because it can't be supported or replicated. Behe himself has admitted this during the Kitzmiller vs Dover trial. In the same trial, Behe's objections to evolutionary theory, presented in his book Darwin's Black Box, were demonstrated to be flawed and disproven by scientists years prior. You can find the transcripts for the trial online.
Books like "Billions of Missing Links" by Geoffrey Simmons are clearly pseudoscientific babble. I own this particular book and have read it several times. If you write a book in which you claim that the self-regulatory system of the Earth's oceans or the fact that the Earth is habitable is a problem for the theory of evolution to solve, you are an idiot. I'm sorry but I can't be any more generous than that to Geoffrey Simmons.
Scientists can't accurately predict the date and time of arrival of a new species because, as you might have realised, mutations are random and the environment changes. There are a lot of other factors involved, including climate change and outside intervention. Events such as mutations and fusions that have occurred in the past, however, can be observed in the DNA and can be used to retrace ancestry. We know for instance that our chromosome number 2 resulted from the fusion of two ancestral ape chromosomes.
As for the applications for the algorhythms evolutionary theory has given us, I can provide you with the titles to several articles. There are many, many, many more you can find in databases online.
"Combining game theory and genetic algorithms with application to DDM-nozzle optimization problems"
J Périaux, HQ Chen, B Mantel, M Sefrioui… - Finite Elements in …, 2001 - Elsevier
"Using genetic algorithms to find technical trading rules"
F Allen, R Karjalainen - Journal of financial Economics, 1999 - Elsevier
"Genetic algorithms and inflationary economies"
J Arifovic - Journal of Monetary Economics, 1995 - Elsevier
"How to effectively use topic models for software engineering tasks? an approach based on genetic algorithms"
A Panichella, B Dit, R Oliveto, M Di Penta… - … Software Engineering, 2013 - dl.acm.org
In your final comments regarding evolutionary theory, you claim there is research in which the theory is refuted. I would very, very much like to receive the titles for the articles and the journals in which it is published. Also, you say you will accept the theory of evolution once the consensus is there, it is. Right now. Has been for the last century almost. Access to the complete genome of numerous species over the last decade has pretty much sealed the deal. DNA evidence alone is more than enough; we don't even need fossils any more now that we can almost literally read evolutionary history.
One of your objections to Dawkins' thesis was that he had "overlooked the fact that evolutionary theory has not been confirmed yet." This, as I have argued above, clearly isn't the case. Unless you keep demanding absolute, 100% certainty, your objection here fails. Nothing in science is absolute. Only mathematics and logic can be, and even there a proof is only as good as it's premises or axioms.
Second, you say Dawkins assumes the universe started simple and gradually became more complex. This is also not true. Dawkins doesn't assume anything: it is in fact what modern science suggests. Again, not with 100% certainty, but based on the evidence available at the moment.
The statement in response to Dawkins' thesis I find to be most problematic is this one "Everything God created is very complex even if it appears simple." You then mention leaves and bacteria, two things we know evolved, from simpler beginnings. God never "created" a leaf; we know trees with leaves evolved; the same is true for bacteria. This part of your response assumes creationism, but you haven't been able to make a case against evolution at all.
In your latest response there seems to be a misunderstanding of the text on your part. Dawkins never states that if God exists, he must have arrived late in the universe by gradual evolution. He states that because creative intelligence (he does not mean God here!) can only come about by means of evolution, God, if he is indeed a creative intelligence, and defined as described (supernatural, superhuman etc..), can't exist. Precisely because, as you say, he couldn't be subject to evolution! This is the entire point of the book and he clearly writes this in the chapter you took the quote from. He does not assume that God exists anywhere; he expressly states the opposite, right off the bat: "There exists a super- human, supernatural intelligence who deliberately designed and created the universe and everything in it, including us. This book will advocate an alternative view." The alternative view being that God can't exist, because creative intelligence evolved.
Next, you present an analogy you admit isn't really an analogy. "The moon is by no means similar to God," I agree, so this isn't actually an analogy at all then. The point of an analogy is that there IS some kind of similarity. All I really wanted was for you to prove that the need for God proves God's existence, which was your statement as I recall. I have only been presented with flawed analogies so far, which is quite unconvinving I must say. The only reason I responded with the exact negation of your claim was to demonstrate that it isn't sound. Your argument in syllogistic form:
P1 - The need for God proves God's existence.
P2 - Many people feel the need for God.
C1 - Therefore, God exists.
I can make the exact converse argument, and it would be equally valid; this follows simply from the rules of logic. The difficulty is in demonstrating the truth of the first premise. You haven't actually done that yet. If you can, I will accept your argument.
In the next paragraph you argue that as science advances, it points more and more to a Creator. But I thought we agreed that science relies on methodological naturalism, and can't ever "point to" or indeed "away from" a creator. Your point is also demonstrably false, as I can find many research articles that suggest religiosity declines as education levels rise. If what you say were true, we would expect the opposite.
//part 1 of 2//
Hi Salma, thank you for your reply.
There are several things in your reply that I do agree with, along with several other grave misunderstandings, mostly about the theory of evolution, unfortunately.
It is true that the theory states living organisms have developed to become more complex, as you correctly put. My first contention with your article was merely to point out that the theory only deals with life on earth and nothing else. People who are reluctant to accept the theory often include the entire universe because that makes it easier to deny it. I was merely trying to avoid that pitfall.
Also, please keep in mind that humans did not evolve from bacteria. Bacteria and humans do share a common ancestor, which could be described as bacteria-like, but we are eukaryotes, whereas bacteria are prokaryotes.
You point out that saying that the theory of evolution is one of the most robust in science doesn't make it so and I completely agree; that is also true for the converse statement. I am confident in my statement because the amount of evidence for evolution is so massive at this point, denying it betrays a certain ignorance of scientfic progress over the last 150 years. There are literally dozens of disciplines in science that converge on the same conclusion over and over: evolution happened. Almost no other theory in science has such strong support from such a multitude of fields.
The claim that there are no missing links seems quite bizarre to me, since there are literally dozens of hominid species alone that have been uncovered and analyzed in recent decades. All you have to do is look at a museum database online and you can find lists upon lists of fossils. Besides, a proper understanding of evolutionary theory would lead one to the conclusion that every single form is transitional, since the steps evolution takes are generational. This makes it impossible to "calculate" when the evolution of new species will take place. No evolutionary scientist would reasonably expect to be able to do that. To require that is quite absurd.
If you require calculations you need only look at how Genetecists can use mutation rates to calculate ancestry over millions of years. Evolution has also given us genetic algorhythms, applications for which range from medicine development to game theory and from economics to software engineering. Without evolution, our lives would be quite different.
There are literally hunderds of scientific, peer-reviewed articles available online for free on observed speciation both in nature and in laboratories. I can supply you with a list if you like. There are thousands more that prove definitively that the theory of evolution can predict future data and confirm this through experiment. I'm really sorry to say it like this but there is no way a reasonable person who has put in more than the bare minimum amount of time and effort to find this stuff can still deny evolution.
That said, I agree that the theory doesn't deny God's existence. No scientific theory does, because science relies on methodological naturalism.
In your next point, you provide us with an explanation of what a special pleading fallacy entails, and I agree with it. The part I disagree with is that adequate justification is provided to accept a creator as an exception to our established rule. We can't be allowed to define our way out of the fallacy, because that would be begging the question. Saying God can't be subject to the rule because he created it is assuming he in fact did so. I warned against this type of reasoning in quoting Shelly in my first reponse; we can't simply assume a contested premise and then infer the matter in dispute. However, should you be able to provide proof of your premise I will accept it.
Next, you present an analogy in response to my claim that the need for God doesn't prove the existence of God. Arguing by analogy is fine, if the analogy holds. The flaw here is that we know the existence of a child already proves the existence or prior existence of it's parents, by definition. The child's parents are disanalogous to God, because their existence can be inferred from the existence of the child alone. If you want to argue by analogy, you'd have to present me with one with a subject of which we can't deduce the existence by some other means, since the existence of God is what you are trying to show.
I do not really have a problem with what you wrote on ancient religions but I don't know why you mention it, to be honest. I stated in my response that there were humans long before there was religion, which is evidenced by numerous finds in anthropology. The fact that religions such as animism, totemism and animal worship predate monotheism is also not controversial. If you think religions such as these still contain the central tenant of monotheism as you seem to argue in your response, I would love to see the evidence for that.
I do agree with you that science hasn't replaced religion, and that isn't the goal of science at all. You say a majority of people always need to get close to a higher power; I would modify that statement slightly: most people think they need to get close to a higher power.
Finally, you commit the exact same fallacy in assuming design from form and function and then inferring the designer. You haven't in fact proven design at all, you've assumed it. You have shown again that humans can tell artifice from nature, but nothing more. Yes we can prove design in cases where humans have designed buildings, garments, etc... We can't do that for that which is naturally occurring.
The definition of design you provided makes your case even worse. I can actually go to my local town hall and ask for the blueprints to any building in my city after it's erection, proving it was designed. There is no such course of action for the tree in my back yard. We have prior knowledge of design when it comes to buidlings. Using the building and comparing it to a tree is a classical example of a false analogy.
Another flaw in the design argument is that it assumes evidence of design is an objective quality obvious to all viewers. In reality, the ability to discern design is largely a function of familiarity and cultural context.
Finally, we have quite a good understanding of how modern trees actually came to be. We can cite reasons for their form and function today from an evolutionary standpoint. We simply don't need a designer to account for this.
In closing, I do feel the need to say I resent your remark about me not being able to deny the designer unless I wanted to. Volition plays no part here. I do not determine whether or not I become convinced of the truth of a proposition; I can only be convinced through evidence and reason and I can be convinced against my will. To claim I don't believe because I don't want to is to fundamentally misunderstand what the agnostic atheist position is.
Kind regards, Johannes.
There are clearly some very obvious misunderstandings in this article, starting with the idea that evolutionary theory states that our observable universe started simple and got more complicated along the way. Evolutionary theory only deals with the development of life on this planet. The only phenomenon it seeks to explain is the diversification of life on Earth, not the development of the universe or the origins of life.
Furthermore, the phrase "evolutionary theory has not been confirmed yet" betrays a severe misunderstanding of how science works. The theory of evolution is one of the most robust theories in science, on par with heliocentric theory, the theory of gravity and the germ theory of disease. Theories in science are never proven beyond doubt; science will never give you absolute certainty. All the available evidence suggests evolutionary theory is accurate, and that is the closest we will ever get to certainty.
The core of Dawkin's argument is that to start your explanation by positing a God is actually a fallacy called special pleading. Everyhting we see is very complex, therefore it was designed and created by God. God is the exception to this rule, for no reason other than its definition. This is special pleading and logically fallacious.
The argument presented that the need for God is proof of it's existence is also flawed. By the same structure it could be claimed that the fact that people exist who don't feel the need for God is proof there is none.
Another claim is that belief in God has been experienced since the dawn of humanity; which is clearly false. There is a mountain of peer reviewed research in anthropology on how religions developed; the belief in only one God is merely the latest stage in religious development. There were people long before there were religions. Apart from that, the fact that people believe it does in no way establish the truth of that which is believed.
In ancient times, people believed in animism; a religion that states objects, places and creatures possess distinct spiritual essences and there alive. Does the fact that this is the oldest known belief system in the world, adhered to thousands of years before even the conception of a theistic deity prove that it is true? Of course not. Polytheisms also predate monotheism. Does the fact that there are hundreds of millions of adherants still today mean polytheism is true? Of course not.
Another point made in the article is that we can deduce the existence of God through the application of logic in the same way we can conclude a watch must have had a watchmaker. The watchmaker argument, however, was shown to be fallacious over a hundred years ago, by author Percy Shelley:
"Design must be proved before a designer can be inferred. It is not permitted to assume the contested premises and thence infer the matter in dispute."
We can prove a watch was designed, we can't do the same for a tree. All the watchmaker argument shows is that humans can distinguish artifice from nature.
Kind regards.
Salma, We will have to agree to disagree! All your points have been explored and answered - the works of Richard Dawkins provide all the evidence for evolution and the non-existence of God, but he also makes the point that it is impossible to convince deeply religious people to change their minds because they do not accept that the evidence is actually evidence!
Religion worries me because - although it has inspired many people to do good works - it has also inspired others to do things that could never be described as good. The logic used by both sets of people is strikingly similar - it just depends on the propositions you start from and to which you apply your logic.
At least you haven`t tried quoting verses from the Bible at me - I find that to be the biggest turn-off of them all!
I wish you all the best and every happiness - despite not agreeing with you!
Salma, The idea that the planets orbit the Sun is a scientific `theory`, as is the Theory of Gravity. They are not called theories because they are unproven - that is simply another meaning of the word. There is no `missing evidence` that calls the Theory of Evolution into question, although we do not yet know all the precise detail of all the mechanisms that make it work. The thing is that it fits the facts, and no other theory has come along that refutes those facts - certainly not any bizarre notion that a supreme being clicked his fingers and it all just happened. That is a theory that certainly does not fit all the facts.
You have to ask yourself - what exactly did God create? Did he click his fingers to light the fuse of the big bang and let the laws of physics and evolution get to work that eventually led to what we have today? Or did he create a 'complex' universe at some time in the past that has simply continued to change? Or do you believe in a form of continuous creation, such that everything that happens, and has always happened, is the direct action of God? That idea would lead to all sorts of problems!
And yes - intelligence and wisdom (and the lack of them) can certainly come about as a result of evolution. Do be careful about falling into a `God of the gaps` mentality, which says that we can understand all sorts of things and how they came to exist, but there are still things we don`t understand and those must therefore have been created by God. Many such gaps have been closed down the centuries, and we can have every confidence that others will disappear in time as science makes fresh discoveries.
I think you are mistaken to claim that evolution is an "unproven theory", because you have fallen into the trap of not understanding what a "theory" is in scientific terms. The evidence for evolution is overwhelming.
You are also guilty of circular reasoning by assuming the truth of what you are seeking to prove. The "watchmaker" argument falls down because it assumes that the universe is a "creation" in the same sense that a watch is and must therefore have had a creator, but why should you make this assumption in the first place?
Thank you for acknowledging and I appreciate the candid response.
I do apologise, as I did not intended to sound bigoted or be demeaning towards anyone and nor was I advocating for anybody. Whether its creationism or Evolution both have opportunities and creationism more so. I am a believer of evolution as it sounds reasonable and equally acceptable to me. 'Flawed logic' to me as stated above is more about perspectives!
This another of those non-ending debates, anyways here's what I felt..
You quoted Dawkins to throw some wait around your argument however when you couldn't rebut what Dawkins inquires about whether god (as complex he and his creations are) being an end product himself, its seems you take the easier route of a counter argument stating bacteria's or supposed first life forms too are complex. It's more like answering a question with a question.
Again, when you speak of this not so famous scholar Dr. Hassan Hathout, you try and present his flawed argument as intellectual one but it appears he's just romancing with his philosphy. This whole man, wall, shadow and light source argument that you quote of him, can be expressed in many ways and that doesn't necessarily prove that a non-believer is a fool or devoid of rationale.
Finally when I say that I am a believer turned non-believer, I am sure whatever I said wouldn't make much of a sense and that's exactly what's the problem with the so called 'flawed logic'. For you as a believer what atheist like Dawkins say is a flawed logic similarly for an atheist what you propose as a counter argument doesn't make much sense either.
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