An Introduction to Philosophy (RLL style) Week 10 – God 2 (Atheism) – Part 6: What has God done for you lately?

We keep looking for proof of God, hoping for a sign, a miracle. But miracles always come with alternative explanations—remission, coincidence, intervention, or just plain luck. What we call a miracle often depends more on what we already believe than on what actually happened. If God is acting in the world, why are the miracles so selective, so personal, and so ambiguous? A God who could make things clear, but doesn’t, begins to look indistinguishable from one who isn’t there at all. Atheism, for some, doesn’t come from hostility, but from exhaustion—from waiting, hoping, and hearing nothing back. Why is evidence so hard to find? And if God doesn’t exist, why are humans so good at finding meaning anyway?

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An Introduction to Philosophy (RLL style) Week 10 – God 2 (Atheism) – Part 3: Have you ever been in pain?

Pain doesn’t ask permission. It doesn’t care about belief. It just is. The traditional view of God—powerful, all-knowing, and good—collides with the reality of suffering, leading us to ask: If God could intervene, why does so much pain remain untouched? The problem of evil isn’t a theological trick; it’s a question born from love. It’s the refusal to accept suffering as just the way things are. Sometimes, atheism begins with grief, with the painful recognition that a loving God who doesn’t intervene looks eerily like one who isn’t there at all. So, what do we do with a universe where pain is real, often undeserved, and the most compassionate response isn’t explanation—but presence?

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