Campus Crusade for Christ http://everystudent.com/features/isthere.html > reassures us that: “Just once wouldn't you love for someone to simply show you the evidence for God's existence? No arm-twisting. No statements of, ‘You just have to believe.’ Well, here is an attempt to candidly offer some of the reasons which suggest that God exists.” Their six reasons follow.
“1. Throughout history, in all cultures of the world, people have been convinced there is a God."
Fallacious appeal to the popular. Throughout history, most people have also believed that foreign races and/or women were inhuman, that weather and earthquakes were gods’ punishment for human conduct, &c ad nauseam. Or we can take another tack, accepting the appeal and pointing out that most people have believed in gods other than Jesus.
“2. Does God exist? The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today.”
Intelligent design's appeal to complexity is a non-starter. Every physical phenomenon CCC cites has a physical explanation. The place where physics peters out is a place few people have the scientific wherewithal to discuss; it’s certainly not the sort of Newtonian-scale physical operations to which CCC (like most who make the argument from I.D.) refer. Worse: any definition of what counts as "complex" is anthropocentric and ad hoc.
“3. Does God exist? Mere "chance" is not an adequate explanation of creation.”
See 2.
“4. Does God exist? Humankind's inherent sense of right and wrong cannot be biologically explained.”
Incorrect. Altruism is widely observed in nature. Theories of group and kin selection account for it nicely. For humanity's many less obviously altruistic moral codes, with which religions are replete, cf political economy for starters.
“5. Does God exist? God not only has revealed Himself in what can be observed in nature, and in human life, but He has even more specifically shown Himself in the Bible.”
A deeply historico-political text, well-documented as such, though it may perfectly well simultaneously be an extremely fine piece of literature. Also, citing the Bible as proof of God's existence is circular. Also, as noted earlier, other religious texts have more adherents -- if you’re going to make the popular appeal, which is in most contexts fallacious.
“6. Does God exist? Unlike any other revelation of God, Jesus Christ is the clearest, most specific picture of God.”
Highly subjective. Also assumes what’s at issue (Christ = God). Worst of all, presumes that best “picture” of God is one that's "clear" and "specific." Of GOD, for heaven's sake? The ultimate transcendental principle of the universe? Clear and specific? Unlikely. Simplicity is, however, a quick path to a deficit of awe, as is grossly apparent in our spiritually impoverished society: cf Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny.
In what sense is this the reasoning of a “campus” crusade for Christ? These aren’t even clever or pertinent religious questions; this isn’t even middle-school-quality thinking, much less “campus” anything. It’s obviously less a “campus crusade for Christ” than a Christian crusade against education. Students, teachers and administrators should have the courage and honesty to call it that.
