Just a few points to add here. These are minor points, though. Ultimately, I'd like to talk about the problem of evil. But first...
1) On the notion of evolution/atheism as a religion.
Giving an analysis of the concept of religion is hard. Dictionary definitions aren't going to be super helpful here. But I would like to point out a major flaw in this argument, quoted below:
i said previously that evolution is basically a religion. everyone seems to have taken that the entirely wrong way.
when i mean religion, i dont mean worship.
here is the definition of religion:
re·li·gion
rəˈlijən/
noun: religion
1. the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
2. a particular system of faith and worship.
3. a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance.
I have italicised the problem areas here. Now, while I'll happily agree that this might not show much (this is, after all, a dictionary definition), I do think there's a lesson here. Sometimes these definitions can help shed some light on how we think about particular concepts. The fact that 2 of these definitions explicitly mention worship is telling.
But more to the point, the argument - at least as it's presented - won't work. In short, you can't suggest that religion doesn't involve worship and then cite a definition in which worship is mentioned more than it's not.
2) On the big bang.
I'm a little unclear these days on precisely what the big bang model says. It seems like this model is becoming less specific because we just don't understand the 'initial starting conditions' for our universe. So typically what we find is a statement about the conditions of the early universe (i.e. that is was really hot and really dense). This much is definitely true, but it's consistent with a number of starting conditions. What's more, it's consistent with a notion of a God.
3) On causation.
Just to be clear on the theistic move here regarding a first cause - God might not need to be caused. The story you hear a lot is that God has always existed and so He never was created. This was always a little (a lot?) strange to me. Here's the way I think about this question nowadays (though this might not be very satisfying, either).
We have a claim like determinism which is motivating this causal chain. But determinism is the claim that every event is caused. This is important, because God is not an event. God is an agent. This ends up being a really neat philosophical distinction in a number of areas, but especially in the arena of free will. We might be able to make a similar move for ourselves and preserve our notion of free will in a deterministic universe. The events we cause are agent-events (rather than purely deterministic ones) but our agency itself is not an event and so can remain uncaused. This ties in pretty neatly with the creation story too, but I'll leave this point.
On to my main point:
The problem of evil
There are a lot of unsatisfying answers out there to the problem of evil/suffering. Typically this argument can be viewed as a dilemma for the nature of God. Either:
(1) God could stop suffering, but He doesn't (this is a challenge to His all-loving nature), or
(2) God wants to stop suffering, but He can't (this challenges our idea of God as all-powerful).
Some bad responses here are that it's Satan doing the evil (this just falls onto the second horn of the dilemma) or that God is testing us (this falls onto the first horn). I'd like to consider 2 (hopefully!) plausible solutions to the problem of evil.
Answer 1: A question of value
Suppose that the world was such that everything came really easily for us. This would be the opposite of the problem of evil - there just is no suffering in the world. There are no obstacles to overcome and nothing seems to require very much skill. It turns out that such a world might not be a good as our present world, and the reason has to do with value.
Succeeding at something certainly has value. But achievements - successes that are, in some way, difficult - seem to be valuable for their own sake. In short, by introducing the notion of suffering, God has actually increased the all-things-considered value that our world has.
Answer 2: A separation from God
This story matches up well with the religious one. We are in a state of being separated from God (think of Adam and Eve getting cast out of Eden). Our world - which is presumably reached through our choices - is one that is not (and cannot) be reconciled with God's perfect nature. This is a deep and interesting metaphysical/theological claim. But it's one that can 'split the horns' of the dilemma. So our goal in this life is to do what we can to reconcile ourselves (read: our souls) with God so that, when we die, we can rejoin Him in a perfect state. This is a deeply complex story, and I don't fully understand it. But it seems (to me, at least) a very interesting story worth thinking about.
