Show Notes
What does it actually take to make a good argument about whether God exists — and what separates a rigorous case from a philosophical dead end? In this episode of The Prometheans, Ali Zaka (AZD) sits down with Dr. Kevin Carnahan — Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Central Methodist University, PhD from Southern Methodist University, former co-editor of the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, and one of the most intellectually honest voices at the intersection of academic theology and public discourse — to do something rarely done well: weigh the strongest arguments on both sides with full philosophical seriousness. Together, they dissect five of the most consequential arguments in the philosophy of religion: 🔹 The Kalam Cosmological Argument — Does the universe's beginning demand a transcendent cause, or does modern cosmology dissolve the premise? 🔹 The Contingency Argument — If everything that exists could not have existed, must there be a Necessary Existent that grounds all reality? 🔹 The Fine-Tuning Argument — Does the universe's extraordinary precision point toward a Designer, or are we just the lucky observers of an indifferent cosmos? 🔹 The Problem of Evil and Suffering — The oldest wound in theology: can a perfectly good, all-knowing, all-powerful God coexist with the depth of suffering we witness in the world? 🔹 Divine Hiddenness — If God genuinely wants a relationship with every human being, why do sincere, open-hearted seekers so often find silence? No strawmen. No cheap shots. Just two people committed to intellectual honesty asking: which arguments actually hold, which ones collapse under scrutiny, and what does that mean for how we think about ultimate reality? Whether you're a believer, a skeptic, or somewhere between — this conversation will sharpen how you think. 🎙️ The Prometheans is a podcast and YouTube channel dedicated to interfaith dialogue and the philosophy of religion — hosted by author, educator, and storyteller Ali Zaka (AZD). 📚 Subscribe for conversations that take ideas seriously.
More from Let’s Discuss
If God infallibly knows what you will do tomorrow, can you genuinely choose otherwise?
Was Jean-Paul Sartre wrong about freedom? Professor Jonathan Webber — Cardiff University philosopher and President of the UK Sartre Society — joins The Prometheans to argue that existentialism is not the vague literary mood most people think it is, but a rigorous ethical theory with a precise argument at its core: that human freedom is the foundation of all value.
Why is there something rather than nothing? What is consciousness? And could the deepest mystery of reality be that anything exists at all — including the experience of being you? In this special episode of The Prometheans, Ali Zaka (AZD) speaks with Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, creator and host of Closer To Truth, the long-running public television and digital series exploring the deepest questions in science, philosophy, and religion.
What makes life worth living when suffering, loss, death and uncertainty seem to strip everything away?