[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-40419-en":3,"doc-seo-40419-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},40419,8796095461610,"Oliver","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",9,"Religion & Spirituality","The Kalam Cosmological Argument, the Big Bang, and Atheism","A critical assessment of the contemporary Kalam cosmological argument as defended by William Lane Craig is presented alongside a conditional case for atheism grounded in Big Bang cosmology. The argument’s aim is challenged by objections to the standard KCA1 structure, focusing especially on whether the premises require a supernatural cause for the universe. Big Bang claims about an initial singularity, expansion, and cosmic microwave background data are treated as an assumed starting point for evaluating the first premise.","The Kalām Cosmological Argument, the Big Bang, and Atheism  \nJohn J. Park 1  \nReceived: 9 February 2015 /Accepted: 6 October 2015 /Published online: 21 October 2015  \n\\# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015  \nAbstract While there has been much work on cosmological arguments, novel objections will be presented against the modern day rendition of the Kalām cosmological argument as standardly articulated by William Lane Craig. The conclusion is reached that this cosmological argument and several of its variants do not lead us to believe that there is inevitably a supernatural cause to the universe. Moreover, a conditional argument for atheism will be presented in light of the Big Bang Theory.  \nKeywords Philosophy of religion. Metaphysics. Philosophy of physics. Big Bang Theory . God’s existence . Atheism  \n1 The Kalām Cosmological Argument  \nThe modern day champion of the Kalām cosmological argument is William Lane Craig (Craig 1979 , 1997; Craig and Smith 1993; Craig and Sinclair 2009) . 1 This argument originally founded in Islamic philosophy is:  \n1Most of the responses to Craig’s work on the Kalām cosmological argument have attempted to provide objections to him. However, for some instances of further support of the Kalām argument other than from Craig, see Koons (1997); Oderberg (2001, 2002); Moreland (2003), Kabay (2005) . Further discussion of this above work is not engaged here since their particular defenses ofthe Kalām contention do not address and are not relevant to the particular objections I will be presenting in this paper.  \n* John J. Park [John.jung.won.park@gmail.com](John.jung.won.park@gmail.com)  \n1 Philosophy & Religious Studies Department, Christopher Newport University, 1 Avenue of the Arts, Newport News, VA 23606, USA  \nP1􀀁 Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence: P2􀀁 The universe began to exist:  \nC􀀁 Therefore the universe has a cause of its existence ðCraig and Smith 1993 ; 4Þ:  \nWe shall entitle Craig’s above explicitly stated rendition of the Kalām cosmological argument as being KCA1 . What is interesting about KCA1 is that its second premise can be empirically supported by the Big Bang Theory. The Big Bang Theory claims that there was a mathematical point or singularity that did not exist in spacetime. It had extreme properties such as infinite temperature and infinite density. From this singularity, about 13.7 billion years ago, the universe as well as time and space exploded from it and spread out from a big bang.2 This theory is confirmed based on several accounts, such as the fact that the universe is still expanding today. Moreover, the Big Bang Theory successfully predicts that there will be the cosmic microwave background, which is thermal radiation left over from the Big Bang.  \nGiven its empirical confirmation and general consensus of agreement by theoretical physicists, I do not challenge the second premise. As it is generally accepted in physics and in the philosophy of religion, as our starting point, we shall assume for the sake of argument throughout this paper that the generally understood Big Bang Theory with the existence of the initial singularity is true. The universe began to exist about 13.7 billion years ago. Positing the existence of the initial singularity is commonly held and labeled in physics as being the Bstandard^ generally accepted way to understand the Big Bang Theory (Cheng 2005; Heller 2009; Pickover 2011) . It is readily found in college physics textbooks. This is the widely accepted view in the philosophy of religion literature as well that is held by those such as Craig and Quentin Smith. I follow this general literature in the philosophy of religion and physics. This beneficially will also allow us to interact with Craig’s overall view since he posits the existence of the singularity.  \nOf course, there are some who challenge this interpretation. For instance, it could bethe case that in the future, a theory of quantum gravity may be","cbCainzqCwJ18YNf","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCainzqCwJ18YNf","pdf",442499,5,1,13,"English","en",105,"# The Kalām Cosmological Argument\n## KCA1 and its premises\n## Big Bang Theory as empirical support\n## Objections and assumptions\n# Conditional reasoning for atheism","[{\"question\":\"What is the main conclusion about the Kalam cosmological argument?\",\"answer\":\"The assessment concludes that the Kalam cosmological argument and some variants do not warrant believing that a supernatural cause of the universe is inevitable.\"},{\"question\":\"How is the Big Bang Theory used in the paper?\",\"answer\":\"The Big Bang Theory is treated as providing empirical support for the second premise of KCA1, including the initial singularity, cosmic expansion, and the existence of the cosmic microwave background.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the paper focus on the first premise rather than the second?\",\"answer\":\"Because the second premise is granted to the theist, attention shifts to scrutinizing the first premise as the primary target for the presented objections.\"}]",1783311310,33,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":28},"the-kalam-cosmological-argument-the-big-bang-and-atheism","",{"@graph":36,"@context":86},[37,54,69],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/religion-spirituality/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-kalam-cosmological-argument-the-big-bang-and-atheism/40419/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-21","2026-07-06",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"What is the main conclusion about the Kalam cosmological argument?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"The assessment concludes that the Kalam cosmological argument and some variants do not warrant believing that a supernatural cause of the universe is inevitable.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"How is the Big Bang Theory used in the paper?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"The Big Bang Theory is treated as providing empirical support for the second premise of KCA1, including the initial singularity, cosmic expansion, and the existence of the cosmic microwave background.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"Why does the paper focus on the first premise rather than the second?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"Because the second premise is granted to the theist, attention shifts to scrutinizing the first premise as the primary target for the presented 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