The design argument

• Design argument

  1. If you were walking in an uninhabited place and came across a watch, you could not say it had been put there by chance

  2. The complexity of the watch's mechanism would make you say it must have had a designer

  3. The universe is a far more complex mechanism than a watch

  4. If a watch needs a designer, the universe must definitely need a designer

  5. The only being that could design the universe would be God
• Modern argument from design


  • Anything that has been designed needs a designer
  • There is plenty of evidence that the world has been designed (laws of science such as gravity and magnetism, DNA being a blueprint for life, etc.)
  • If the world has been designed, the world must have a designer
  • The only possible designer of something as wonderful as the universe would be God
• Catholics believe that the design argument is important because it

  uses natural theology to show that:

  ● God’s existence can be demonstrated by looking at his creation

  ● God wants humans to use their reason to understand the world as well

  as the revelation he has given to the Church

  ● the universe works on fixed, logical principles designed by God which

  have enabled humans to make scientific discoveries

  ● God is the creator of the universe and keeps it in existence.
• Non-religious people such as Atheists and Humanists reject this

  argument because:

  ● the argument ignores the evidence of lack of design in the universe, for

  example volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, diseases

  ● all the evidence for design can be explained by science without

  thinking of God

  ● the argument does not refer to the existence of such things as dinosaurs

  which could not have been part of a design plan for the world

  ● the argument proves only that the universe has a designer, not God.

  The designer could be many gods, or an evil creator.
• The Catholic Church argues that believing the universe came about

  by chance takes just as much faith as believing it came about through

  the design of God. It is far more likely that the universe came about

  through the design of a loving God than through random chance. The

  Church accepts that there is no absolute proof a creator exists, but argues

  that there is also no proof that the Creator does not exist. Proof of God’s

  existence is an open question and one which the Church feels comes

  down in favour of an intelligent designer.
• The Catechism says that the

  existence of God the Creator

  can be known with certainty

  through his creation.
• St Paul said in Romans

  chapter 1 that although

  God’s eternal power and

  divine nature are invisible,

  they can be understood and

  seen through the things he

  has made.