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Exam 5 Our 5th test deals with the question of God and the problem of evil. We will take as our guide two quotes from popular author Christopher Hitchens. Before his death recently he was regarded as the most widely known atheist of our day. Both of these books were on the NY Times best seller list and were read by many people. Imagine encountering one of Hitchens′ readers who assert the following positions. How can a thoughtful graduate respond to these challenges? Part A Address this quote by drawing on the insights for God′s existence from our readings. (2 Pages) Religion comes from the period of human prehistory where nobody—not even the mighty Democritus who concluded that all matter was made from atoms—had the smallest idea what was going on. It comes from the bawling and fearful infancy of our species, and is a babyish attempt to meet our inescapable demand for knowledge (as well as for comfort, reassurance, and other infantile needs). Today the least educated of my children knows much more about the natural order than any of the founders of religion. (Christopher Hitchens, ″God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything″) Part B Address this quote by drawing on the insights dealing with problem of evil from our readings (2 Pages) The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love.