Does God exist? Evil, suffering and life after death · KS3 Religious Education

Arguments that God exists

The First Cause (cosmological) argument: everything has a cause, so something must have started the universe without being caused itself. Thomas Aquinas said this is God.
The Design (teleological) argument: the world is so complex and ordered that it must have a designer. William Paley compared the world to a watch found on a heath, which clearly had a maker.
Religious experiences and miracles: some people say they have experienced God directly, or seen events that science can't explain.

Science offers other explanations: the Big Bang for the start of the universe, and evolution by natural selection for the variety of life. Some religious people accept both science and God.
Critics ask what caused God, and point out that the world also contains disease and disasters, which seem badly designed.

If God is all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving, why is there evil and suffering?
Moral evil is caused by humans, such as war and cruelty. Natural evil is caused by nature, such as earthquakes and disease.
Religious responses: God gave humans free will, and moral evil comes from misusing it; suffering can help people grow and become better (the soul-making idea); humans can't understand God's plan (as in the Book of Job); religions teach believers to help those who suffer.

Christians and Muslims believe in judgement, followed by heaven or hell (Jannah or Jahannam in Islam).
Hindus and Sikhs believe in reincarnation (the soul is reborn), and Buddhists in rebirth, until liberation.
Humanists believe there is no life after death, so this life matters.