J.L. Mackie (along with Bertrand Russell) was one of the major philosophical opponents of religion in the twentieth century. Here Mackie criticizes the argument for God's existence that Moreland used in our previous exercise.Moreland had argued, using premises from philosophy and physics, that the world had a beginning in time. He further argued that this beginning had to have had a cause -- and that this cause was a personal being. Thus he concluded that the world had its origin in a personal being, who is God.
This exercise deals with the "Finite Past Time and Creation" section of a reading from Mackie in our anthology (pages 215-7 of Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings (second edition), edited by Peterson, Hasker, Reichenbach, and Basinger). These computerized exercise materials are copyrighted (c) 2002 by Harry J. Gensler; but they may be distributed freely.