Existence of God

Theexistence of Godis a subject of debate in thephilosophy of religionandtheology.^[1]A wide variety of arguments for and against the existence ofGod(with the same arguments also generally being used when talking about the existence of multipledeities) can be categorized aslogical,empirical,metaphysical,subjectiveorscientific.Inphilosophicalterms, the question of the existence of God involves the disciplines ofepistemology(the nature and scope ofknowledge) andontology(study of the nature ofbeingorexistence) and thetheory of value(since some definitions of God include "perfection" ).

TheWestern tradition of philosophical discussionof the existence of God began withPlatoandAristotle,who made arguments for the existence of a being responsible for fashioning theuniverse,referred to as thedemiurgeor theunmoved mover,that today would be categorized ascosmological arguments.Other arguments for the existence of God have been proposed bySt. Anselm,who formulated the firstontological argument;Thomas Aquinas,who presented his own version of the cosmological argument (thefirst way);René Descartes,who said that the existence of a benevolent God islogically necessaryfor the evidence of the senses to be meaningful.John Calvinargued for asensus divinitatis,which gives each human a knowledge of God's existence.Islamic philosopherswho developed arguments for the existence of God compriseAverroes,who made arguments influenced by Aristotle's concept of the unmoved mover;Al-GhazaliandAl-Kindi,who presented theKalam cosmological argument;Avicenna,who presented theProof of the Truthful;andAl-Farabi,who madeNeoplatonic arguments.

In philosophy, and more specifically in the philosophy of religion,atheismrefers to thepropositionthat God does not exist.^[2]Some religions, such asJainism,reject the possibility of acreator deity.Philosophers who have provided arguments against the existence of God includeDavid Hume,Ludwig Feuerbach,andBertrand Russell.

Theism,the proposition that God exists, is the dominant view amongphilosophers of religion.^[3]In a 2020PhilPaperssurvey, 69.50% of philosophers of religion stated that they accept or lean towards theism, while 19.86% stated they accept or lean towards atheism.^[4]Prominent contemporary philosophers of religion who defended theism includeAlvin Plantinga,Yujin Nagasawa,John Hick,Richard Swinburne,andWilliam Lane Craig,while those who defended atheism includeGraham Oppy,Paul Draper,Quentin Smith, J. L. Mackie,andJ. L. Schellenberg.

Positions

Positions on the existence of God can be divided along numerous axes, producing a variety oforthogonalclassifications. Theism and atheism are positions of belief or lack of it, whilegnosticismandagnosticismare positions of knowledge or the lack of it.Ignosticismconcerns belief about God's conceptual coherence.Apatheismconcerns belief about the practical importance of whether God exists.

For the purposes of discussion,Richard Dawkinsdescribed seven "milestones" on hisspectrum of theistic probability:^[5]

Strong theist. 100%probabilitythat God exists. In the words ofCarl G. Jung:"I do not believe, I know."
De factotheist.Very high probability but short of 100%. "I don't know for certain, but I strongly believe in God and live my life on the assumption that he is there."
Leaning towards theism. Higher than 50% but not very high. "I am very uncertain, but I am inclined to believe in God."
Completely impartial. Exactly 50%. "God's existence and nonexistence are exactly equiprobable."
Leaning towardsatheism.Lower than 50% but not very low. "I do not know whether God exists but I'm inclined to be skeptical."
De factoatheist. Very low probability, but short of zero. "I don't know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there."
Strong atheist. "I know there is no God, with the same conviction as Jung knows there is one."

Theism

The Catholic Church, following the teachings ofPaul the Apostle(e.g.,Romans 1:20),Thomas Aquinas,and theFirst Vatican Council,affirms that God's existence "can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason".^[6]

Traditional religious definition of God

Inclassical theism,God is characterized as the metaphysically ultimate being (the first, timeless, absolutely simple and sovereign being, who is devoid of anyanthropomorphicqualities), in distinction to other conceptions such astheistic personalism,open theism,andprocess theism.Classical theists do not believe that God can be completely defined. They believe it would contradict thetranscendentnature of God for mere humans to define him.Robert Barronexplains by analogy that it seems impossible for a two-dimensional object to conceive of three-dimensional humans.^[7]

In modern Western societies, theconcepts of Godtypically entail amonotheistic,supreme, ultimate, andpersonal being,as found in theChristian,IslamicandJewishtraditions. In monotheistic religions outside theAbrahamic traditions,the existence of God is discussed in similar terms. In these traditions, God is also identified as the author (either directly or by inspiration) of certain texts, or that certain texts describe specific historical events caused by the God in question or communications from God (whether in direct speech or via dreams or omens). Some traditions also believe that God is the entity which is currently answering prayers for intervention or information or opinions.

Many Islamic scholars have used philosophical and rational arguments to prove the existence of God. For example,Ibn Rushd,a 12th-century Islamic scholar, philosopher, and physician, states there are only two arguments worthy of adherence, both of which are found in what he calls the "Precious Book" (The Qur'an). Rushd cites "providence" and "invention" in using the Qur'an's parables to claim the existence of God. Rushd argues that the Earth's weather patterns are conditioned to support human life; thus, if the planet is so finely-tuned to maintain life, then it suggests a fine tuner—God. The Sun and the Moon are not just random objects floating in theMilky Way,rather they serve us day and night, and the way nature works and how life is formed, humankind benefits from it. Rushd essentially comes to a conclusion that there has to be a higher being who has made everything perfectly to serve the needs of human beings.^[8]^[9]

Moses ben Maimon, widely known asMaimonides,was a Jewish scholar who tried to logically prove the existence of God. Maimonides offered proofs for the existence of God, but he did not begin with defining God first, like many others do. Rather, he used the description of the earth and the universe to prove the existence of God. He talked about the Heavenly bodies and how they are committed to eternal motion. Maimonides argued that because every physical object is finite, it can only contain a finite amount of power. If everything in the universe, which includes all the planets and the stars, is finite, then there has to be an infinite power to push forth the motion of everything in the universe. Narrowing down to an infinite being, the only thing that can explain the motion is an infinite being (meaning God) which is neither a body nor a force in the body. Maimonides believed that this argument gives us a ground to believe that God is, not an idea of what God is. He believed that God cannot be understood or be compared.^[10]

Non-personal definitions of God

Inpantheism,God and the universe are considered to be the same thing. In this view, the natural sciences are essentially studying the nature of God. This definition of God creates the philosophical problem that a universe with God and one without God are the same, other than the words used to describe it.

Deismandpanentheismassert that there is a God distinct from, or which extends beyond (either in time or in space or in some other way) the universe. These positions deny that God intervenes in the operation of the universe, including communicating with humans personally. The notion that God never intervenes or communicates with the universe, or may have evolved into the universe (as inpandeism), makes it difficult, if not by definition impossible, to distinguish between a universe with God and one without.

TheEthicsofBaruch Spinozagave two demonstrations of the existence of God.^[11]The God of Spinoza is uncaused by any external force and has nofree will,it is not personal and not anthropomorphic.

Debate about how theism should be argued

In Christian faith, theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas made a distinction between: (a) preambles of faith and (b) articles of faith.^[12]The preambles include alleged truths contained in revelation which are nevertheless demonstrable by reason, e.g., the immortality of the soul, the existence of God. The articles of faith, on the other hand, contain truths that cannot be proven or reached by reason alone and presuppose the truths of the preambles, e.g., in Christianity, theHoly Trinity,is not demonstrable and presupposes the existence of God.

The argument that the existence of God can be known to all, even prior to exposure to any divine revelation, predates Christianity.^{[clarification needed]}Paul the Apostlemade this argument when he said that pagans were without excuse because "since the creation of the world God's invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made".^[13]In this, Paul alludes to the proofs for a creator, later enunciated by Thomas Aquinas^[14]and others, that had also been explored by the Greek philosophers.

Another apologetical school of thought, including Dutch and AmericanReformedthinkers (such asAbraham Kuyper,Benjamin Warfield,andHerman Dooyeweerd), emerged in the late 1920s. This school was instituted byCornelius Van Til,and came to be popularly calledpresuppositional apologetics(though Van Til felt "transcendental" would be a more accurate title). The main distinction between this approach and the more classicalevidentialistapproach is that the presuppositionalist denies any common ground between the believer and the non-believer, except that which the non-believer denies, namely, the assumption of the truth of the theistic worldview. In other words, presuppositionalists do not believe that the existence of God can be proven by appeal to raw, uninterpreted, or "brute" facts, which have the same (theoretical) meaning to people with fundamentally different worldviews, because they deny that such a condition is even possible. They claim that the only possible proof for the existence of God is that the very same belief is the necessary condition to the intelligibility of all other human experience and action. They attempt to prove the existence of God by means of appeal to thetranscendentalnecessity of the belief—indirectly (by appeal to the unavowed presuppositions of the non-believer's worldview) rather than directly (by appeal to some form of common factuality). In practice this school uses what have come to be known astranscendental arguments.These arguments claim to demonstrate that all human experience and action (even the condition of unbelief, itself) is a proof for the existence of God, because God's existence is the necessary condition of their intelligibility.

Protestant Christians note that the Christian faith teaches "salvationis by faith ",^[15]and that faith is reliance upon the faithfulness of God. The most extreme example of this position is calledfideism,which holds that faith is simply the will to believe, and argues that if God's existence were rationally demonstrable, faith in its existence would become superfluous.Søren Kierkegaardargued that objective knowledge, such as 1+1=2, is unimportant to existence. If God could rationally be proven, his existence would be unimportant to humans.^{[citation needed]}It is because God cannot rationally be proven that his existence is important to us. InThe Justification of Knowledge,theCalvinisttheologianRobert L. Reymondargues that believers should not attempt to prove the existence of God. Since he believes all such proofs are fundamentally unsound, believers should not place their confidence in them, much less resort to them in discussions with non-believers; rather, they should accept the content of revelation by faith. Reymond's position is similar to that of his mentorGordon Clark,which holds that all worldviews are based on certain unprovable first premises (or, axioms), and therefore are ultimately unprovable. The Christian theist therefore must simply choose to start with Christianity rather than anything else, by a "leap of faith".This position is also sometimes calledpresuppositional apologetics,but should not be confused with the Van Tillian variety.

Atheism

In the philosophy of religion,atheismis standardly defined as themetaphysicalclaim that God does not exist. In 1972,Antony Flewproposed defining atheism as the psychological state of lacking any belief in God. However, Flew's definition is usually rejected, due to the need for a name for the direct oppositepropositionto theism, the metaphysical claim that God does exist.^[2]

Positive atheism

Positive atheism(also called "strong atheism" and "hard atheism" ) is a proposed form of atheism that asserts that no deities exist.^[16]^[17]^[18]The strong atheist explicitly asserts the non-existence of gods.

Negative atheism

Negative atheism (also called "weak atheism" and "soft atheism" ) is a proposed form of atheism other than positive, wherein a person does not believe in the existence of any deities, but does not explicitly assert there to be none.^[16]^[17]^[18]

Agnosticism

Agnosticism is the view that thetruth valueof certain claims—especially claims about the existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable.^[19]Agnosticism does not define one's belief or disbelief in gods; agnostics may still identify themselves as theists or atheists.^[20]

Strong agnosticism

Strong agnosticismis the belief that it is impossible for humans to know whether or not any deities exist.

Weak agnosticism

Weak agnosticism is the belief that the existence or nonexistence of deities is unknown but not necessarily unknowable.

Agnostic theism

Agnostic theism is thephilosophicalview that encompasses both theism and agnosticism. An agnostic theist believes in the existence of a god or God, but regards the basis of this proposition asunknown or inherently unknowable.Agnostic theists may also insist on ignorance regarding the properties of the gods they believe in.^[21]

Agnostic atheism

Agnostic atheism is a philosophical position that encompasses both atheism and agnosticism. Agnostic atheists are atheistic because they do not hold abeliefin the existence of any deity and agnostic because they claim that the existence of adeityis either unknowable in principle or currently unknown in fact.

The theologianRobert Flintexplains:

If a man have failed to find any good reason for believing that there is a God, it is perfectly natural and rational that he should not believe that there is a God; and if so, he is an atheist, although he assume no superhuman knowledge, but merely the ordinary human power of judging of evidence. If he go farther, and, after an investigation into the nature and reach of human knowledge, ending in the conclusion that the existence of God is incapable of proof, cease to believe in it on the ground that he cannot know it to be true, he is an agnostic and also an atheist, an agnostic-atheist—an atheist because an agnostic. "^[22]

Apatheism

An apatheist is someone who is not interested in accepting or denying any claims that gods exist or do not exist. An apatheist lives as if there are no gods and explains naturalphenomenawithout reference to any deities. The existence of gods is not rejected, but may be designated unnecessary or useless; gods neither provide purpose tolife,nor influenceeveryday life,according to this view.^[23]

Ignosticism

The ignostic (or igtheist) usually concludes that the question of God's existence or nonexistence is usually not worth discussing because concepts like "God" are usually not sufficiently or clearly defined. Ignosticism or igtheism is the theological position that every other theological position (includingagnosticismand atheism) assumes too much about the concept of God and many other theological concepts. It can be defined as encompassing two related views about the existence of God. The view that a coherent definition of God must be presented before the question of the existence of God can be meaningfully discussed. Furthermore, if that definition isunfalsifiable,the ignostic takes thetheological noncognitivistposition that the question of the existence of God (per that definition) is meaningless.^{[citation needed]}In this case, the concept of God is not considered meaningless; the term "God" is considered meaningless. The second view is synonymous with theological noncognitivism, and skips the step of first asking "What is meant by 'God'?" before proclaiming the original question "Does God exist?" as meaningless.

Some philosophers have seen ignosticism as a variation of agnosticism or atheism,^[24]while others^[who?]have considered it to be distinct.^{[citation needed]}An ignostic maintains that he cannot even say whether he is atheistor an atheist until a sufficient definition of theism is put forth.

The term "ignosticism" was coined in the 1960s bySherwin Wine,arabbiand a founding figure ofHumanistic Judaism.The term "igtheism" was coined by thesecular humanist Paul Kurtzin his 1992 bookThe New Skepticism.^[25]

Philosophical issues

The problem of the supernatural

One problem posed by the question of the existence of God is that traditional beliefs usually ascribe to God varioussupernaturalpowers. Supernatural beings may be able to conceal and reveal themselves for their own purposes, as for example in the tale ofBaucis and Philemon.In addition, according to concepts of God, God is not part of the natural order, but the ultimate creator of nature and of the scientific laws. Thus inAristotelian philosophy,God is viewed as part of the explanatory structure needed to support scientific conclusions and any powers God possesses are—strictly speaking—of the natural order that is derived from God's place as originator of nature (see alsoMonadology).

InKarl Popper'sphilosophy of science,belief in a supernatural God is outside the natural domain of scientific investigation because all scientific hypotheses must be falsifiable in the natural world. Thenon-overlapping magisteriaview proposed byStephen Jay Gouldalso holds that the existence (or otherwise) of God is irrelevant to and beyond the domain of science.

Scientists follow thescientific method,within which theories must be verifiable byphysical experiment.The majority of prominent conceptions of God explicitly or effectively posit a being whose existence is not testable either by proof or disproof.^[26]Therefore, the question of God's existence may lie outside the purview of modern scienceby definition.^[27]TheCatholic Churchmaintains that knowledge of the existence of God is the "natural light of human reason".^[28]Fideistsmaintain that belief in God's existence may not be amenable to demonstration or refutation, but rests onfaithalone.

Logical positivistssuch asRudolf CarnapandA. J. Ayerviewed any talk of gods as literal nonsense. For the logical positivists and adherents of similar schools of thought, statements about religious or other transcendent experiences can not have atruth value,and are deemed to be without meaning, because such statements do not have any clear verification criteria. As the Christian biologist Scott C. Todd put it "Even if all the data pointed to an intelligent designer, such a hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic."^[29]This argument limits the domain of science to the empirically observable and limits the domain of God to the empirically unprovable.

Nature of relevant proofs and arguments

John Polkinghornesuggests that the nearest analogy to the existence of God in physics is the ideas ofquantum mechanicswhich are seemingly paradoxical but make sense of a great deal of disparate data.^[30]

Alvin Plantinga compares the question of the existence of God to the question of the existence ofother minds,claiming both are notoriously impossible to "prove" against a determined skeptic.^[31]

One approach, suggested by writers such as Stephen D. Unwin, is to treat (particular versions of) theism andnaturalismas though they were two hypotheses in theBayesiansense, to list certain data (or alleged data), about the world, and to suggest that the likelihoods of these data are significantly higher under one hypothesis than the other.^[32]Most of the arguments for, or against, the existence of God can be seen as pointing to particular aspects of the universe in this way. In almost all cases it is not seriously suggested by proponents of the arguments that they are irrefutable, merely that they make one worldview seem significantly more likely than the other. However, since an assessment of the weight of evidence depends on theprior probabilitythat is assigned to each worldview, arguments that a theist finds convincing may seem thin to an atheist and vice versa.^[33]

Philosophers, such asWittgenstein,take a view that is consideredanti-realistand oppose philosophical arguments related to God's existence. For instance,Charles Taylorcontends that the real is whatever will not go away. If we cannot reduce talk about God to anything else, or replace it, or prove it false, then perhaps God is as real as anything else.^[34]

InGeorge Berkeley'sA Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledgeof 1710, he argued that a "naked thought" cannot exist, and that a perception is a thought; therefore only minds can be proven to exist, since all else is merely an idea conveyed by a perception. From this Berkeley argued that the universe is based upon observation and is non-objective. However, he noted that the universe includes "ideas" not perceptible to humankind, and that there must, therefore, exist an omniscient superobserver, which perceives such things. Berkeley considered this proof of the existence of the Christian god.

Outside of Western thought

Existence in absolute truth is central toVedantaepistemology. Traditional sense perception based approaches were put into question as possibly misleading due to preconceived or superimposed ideas. But though all object-cognition can be doubted, the existence of the doubter remains a fact even innastikatraditions ofmayavadaschools followingAdi Shankara.^[35]The five eternal principles to be discussed under ontology, beginning with God or Isvara, theUltimate Realitycannot be established by the means oflogicalone, and often require superior proof.^[36]

InVaisnavism Vishnu,or his intimate ontological form ofKrishna,is equated to the personal absolute God of the Western traditions. Aspects of Krishna assvayam bhagavanin original Absolute Truth,sat chit ananda,are understood originating from three essential attributes of Krishna's form, i.e., "eternal existence" orsat,related to thebrahmanaspect; "knowledge" or chit, to theparamatman;and "bliss" oranandainSanskrit,tobhagavan.^[37]

Arguments

Arguments for the existence of God

Logical arguments

Aquinas' Five Ways

In article 3, question 2, first part of hisSumma Theologica,Thomas Aquinasdeveloped his five arguments for God's existence. These arguments are grounded in an Aristotelian ontology and make use of theinfinite regression argument.^[38]^[39]Aquinas did not intend to fully prove the existence of God as he is orthodoxly conceived (with all of his traditional attributes), but proposed his Five Ways as a first stage, which he built upon later in his work.^[40]Aquinas' Five Ways argued from theunmoved mover,first cause,necessary being,argument from degree,and theargument from final cause.^[38]

The unmoved mover argument: things in the world are in motion, something can only be caused to move by a mover, therefore everything in the world must be moved by an unmoved mover.
The first cause argument: things in the world have a cause, and nothing is the cause of itself, so everything in the world must have a first cause or an uncaused cause.
The necessary being argument: things in the world are contingent, and contingent beings cannot exist without a cause, so everything in the world must be caused by a necessary being.
The degree argument: there are degrees of goodness and perfection among things, and something of a maximum degree must be the cause of things of a lower degree, so there must be a supremely good and perfect cause for all good things.
The final cause argument: things in the world act for an end or purpose, but only an intelligent being can direct itself towards a purpose, so there must be an intelligent being that directs things towards their purpose.

Cosmological argument

The cosmological argument is ana posterioriargument for a cause or reason for the cosmos.^[41]

One type of cosmological, or "first cause" argument, typically called theKalam cosmological argument,asserts that since everything that begins to exist has a cause, and the universe began to exist, the universe must have had a cause which was itself not caused. This ultimate first cause is identified with God. Christian apologistWilliam Lane Craiggives a version of this argument in the following form:^[42]

Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
The Universe began to exist.
Therefore, the Universe had a cause.

Ontological argument

The ontological argument has been formulated by philosophers includingSt. AnselmandRené Descartes.The argument proposes that God's existence is self-evident. The logic, depending on the formulation, reads roughly as follows:^[43]

Whatever is contained in a clear and distinct idea of a thing must be predicated of that thing; but a clear and distinct idea of an absolutely perfect Being contains the idea of actual existence; therefore since we have the idea of an absolutely perfect Being such a Being must really exist.^[43]

Thomas Aquinas criticized the argument for proposing a definition of God which, if God is transcendent, should be impossible for humans.^[44]Immanuel Kant criticized the proof from a logical standpoint: he stated that the term "God" really signifies two different terms: both idea of God, and God. Kant concluded that the proof is equivocation, based on the ambiguity of the word God.^[45]Kant also challenged the argument's assumption that existence is a predicate (of perfection) because it does not add anything to the essence of a being. If existence is not a predicate, then it is notnecessarily truethat the greatest possible being exists.^[46]A common rebuttal to Kant's critique is that, although "existence" does add something to both the concept and the reality of God, the concept would be vastly different if its referent is an unreal Being.^{[citation needed]}Another response to Kant is attributed to Alvin Plantinga, who says that even if one were to grant that existence is not a real predicate,necessary existence,which is the correct formulation of an understanding of God,isa real predicate.^[47]

Gödel's ontological proof

Gödel's ontological proofis aformal argumentby the mathematicianKurt Gödel(1906–1978) for the existence of God. The argument is in a line of development that goes back toAnselm of Canterbury(1033–1109). St. Anselm'sontological argument,in its most succinct form, is as follows: "God, by definition, is that for which no greater can be conceived. God exists in the understanding. If God exists in the understanding, we could imagine Him to be greater by existing inreality.Therefore, God must exist. "A more elaborate version was given byGottfried Leibniz(1646–1716); this is the version that Gödel studied and attempted to clarify with his ontological argument.

Gödel left a fourteen-point outline of his philosophical beliefs in his papers.^[48]Points relevant to the ontological proof include:

4. There are other worlds and rational beings of a different and higher kind.

5. The world in which we live is not the only one in which we shall live or have lived.

13. There is a scientific (exact) philosophy and theology, which deals with concepts of the highest abstractness; and this is also most highly fruitful for science.

14. Religions are, for the most part, bad—but religion is not.

The proof^[49]^[51]usesmodal logic,which distinguishes betweennecessarytruthsandcontingenttruths.In the most common semantics for modal logic, many "possible worlds"are considered. Atruthisnecessaryif it is true in all possible worlds. By contrast, if a statement happens to be true in our world, but is false in another world, then it is acontingenttruth. A statement that is true in some world (not necessarily our own) is called apossibletruth.

Furthermore, the proof useshigher-order(modal) logic because the definition of God employs an explicit quantification over properties.^[52]

First, Gödel axiomatizes the notion of a "positive property":^{[note 1]}for each propertyφ,eitherφor itsnegation¬φmust be positive, but not both (axiom 2). If a positive propertyφimplies a propertyψin each possible world, thenψis positive, too (axiom 1).^{[note 2]}Gödel then argues that each positive property is "possibly exemplified", i.e. applies at least to some object in some world (theorem 1). Defining an object to be Godlike if it has all positive properties (definition 1),^{[note 3]}and requiring that property to be positive itself (axiom 3),^{[note 4]}Gödel shows that insomepossible world a Godlike object exists (theorem 2), called "God" in the following.^{[note 5]}Gödel proceeds to prove that a Godlike object exists ineverypossible world.

Meinongian argument

TheMeinongian argumentis a type ofontological argument^[53]or an "a prioriargument "that seeks to prove the existence of God.^[54]This is through an assertion that there is "a distinction between different categories of existence."^[55]Thepremiseof the ontological argument is based onAlexius Meinong's works. Some scholars also associate it withSt. Anselm's ontological argument.^[56]

Trademark argument

Thetrademark argument^[57]is ana prioriargumentfor the existence of God developed by the French philosopher and mathematicianRené Descartes.The name derives from the fact that the idea of God existing in each person "is the trademark, hallmark or stamp of their divine creator".^[58]

In theMeditationsDescartes provides two arguments for the existence of God. In Meditation V he presents a version of theontological argumentwhich attempts to deduce the existence of God from the nature of God; in Meditation III he presents an argument for the existence of God from one of the effects of God's activity. Descartes cannot start with the existence of the world or with some feature of the world for, at this stage of his argument, he has not established that the world exists. Instead, he starts with the fact that he has an idea of God and concludes "that the mere fact that I exist and have within me an idea of a most perfect being, that is, God, provides a very clear proof that God indeed exists." He says, "it is no surprise that God, in creating me, should have placed this idea in me to be, as it were, the mark of the craftsman stamped on his work."

Plantinga's free-will defense

Alvin Plantinga's free-will defenseis a logical argument developed by the Americananalytic philosopher Alvin Plantingaand published in its final version in his 1977 bookGod, Freedom, and Evil.^[59]Plantinga's argument is a defense against thelogical problem of evilas formulated by the philosopherJ. L. Mackiebeginning in 1955.^[60]^[61]Mackie's formulation of the logical problem of evil argued that three attributes ascribed toGod(omniscience,omnipotence,andomnibenevolence) are logically incompatible with the existence of evil.

Specifically, the argument from evil asserts that the following set of propositions are, by themselves, logically inconsistent or contradictory:

God isomniscient(all-knowing)
God isomnipotent(all-powerful)
God isomnibenevolent(morally perfect)
There is evil in the world

Plantinga's free-will defense begins by noting a distinction betweenmoral evilandphysical evil(Plantinga's defense primarily references moral evil), then asserting that Mackie's argument failed to establish anexplicitlogical contradiction between God and the existence of moral evil. In other words Plantinga shows that (1–4) are not on their own contradictory, and that any contradiction must originate from an atheologian'simplicitunstated assumptions, assumptions representing premises not stated in the argument itself. With anexplicitcontradiction ruled out, an atheologian must add premises to the argument for it to succeed.^[62]Nonetheless, if Plantinga had offered no further argument, then an atheologian's intuitive impressions that a contradiction must exist would have remained unanswered. Plantinga sought to resolve this by offering two further points.^[63]

First, Plantinga, usingmodal logic,pointed out that omnipotence is the power to do all things logically possible, and thus God could not be expected to do things that are logically impossible.^[64]God could not, for example, create square circles, act contrary to his nature, or, more relevantly, create beings with free will that would never choose evil.^[65]Taking this latter point further, Plantinga argued that the moral value of human free will is a credible offsetting justification that God could have as a morally justified reason for permitting the existence of evil.^[66]Plantinga did not claim to have shown that the conclusion of the logical problem is wrong, nor did he assert that God's reason for allowing evil is, in fact, to preserve free will. Instead, his argument sought only to show that thelogical problem of evilwas invalid.^[67]

Plantinga's defense has received strong support among academic philosophers, with many agreeing that it defeated the logical problem of evil.^[68]^[69]^[70]^[71]Contemporary atheologians^[72]have presented arguments claiming to have found the additional premises needed to create an explicitly contradictorytheisticset by adding to the propositions 1–4.

Proof of the Truthful

TheProof of the Truthful^[73](Arabic:برهان الصديقين,romanized:burhān al-ṣiddīqīn,^[74]also translated Demonstration of the Truthful^[74]or Proof of the Veracious,^[75]among others) is aformal argumentfor proving the existence of God introduced by theIslamic philosopher Avicenna(also known as Ibn Sina, 980–1037). Avicenna argued that there must be a "necessary existent" (Arabic:واجب الوجود,romanized:wājib al-wujūd), an entity that cannotnotexist.^[76]The argument says that the entire set ofcontingent thingsmust have a cause that is not contingent because otherwise it would be included in the set. Furthermore, through a series of arguments, he derived that the necessary existent must have attributes that he identified withGod in Islam,including unity, simplicity, immateriality, intellect, power, generosity, and goodness.^[77]

Historian of philosophy Peter Adamsoncalled the argument one of the most influential medieval arguments for God's existence, and Avicenna's biggest contribution to the history of philosophy.^[76]It was enthusiastically received and repeated (sometimes with modification) by later philosophers, including generations of Muslim philosophers, Western Christian philosophers such asThomas AquinasandDuns Scotus,and Jewish philosophers such asMaimonides.

Critics of the argument includeAverroes,who objected to its methodology,Al-Ghazali,who disagreed with its characterization of God, and modern critics who state that its piecemeal derivation of God's attributes allows people to accept parts of the argument but still reject God's existence. There is no consensus among modern scholars on the classification of the argument; some say that it isontologicalwhile others say it iscosmological.^[78]

Empirical arguments

Argument from beauty

Theargument from beauty(also the aesthetic argument) is an argument for the existence of a realm of immaterial ideas or, most commonly, for the existence of God, that roughly states that the evident beauty in nature, art and music and even in more abstract areas like the elegance of thelaws of physicsor theelegant laws of mathematicsis evidence of acreator deitywho has arranged these things to be beautiful (aesthetically pleasing, or "good" ) and not ugly.

Plato argued there is a transcendent plane of abstract ideas, or universals, which are more perfect than real-world examples of those ideas. Later philosophers connected this plane to the idea of goodness, beauty, and then the Christian God.

Various observers have also argued that the experience of beauty is evidence of the existence of a universal God. Depending on the observer, this might include artificially beautiful things like music or art, natural beauty like landscapes or astronomical bodies, or the elegance of abstract ideas like the laws of mathematics or physics.

The best-known contemporary defender of the aesthetic argument isRichard Swinburne.

Argument from consciousness

Theargument from consciousnessis anargumentfor the existence of God that claims characteristics of humanconsciousness(such asqualia) cannot be explained by the physical mechanisms of the human body and brain, therefore asserting that there must be non-physical aspects to human consciousness. This is held as indirect evidence of God, given that notions aboutsoulsand theafterlifein Judaism, Christianity, and Islam would be consistent with such a claim.

The best-known defender of the argument from consciousness isJ. P. Moreland.^{[citation needed]}

Argument from design

Theteleological argument(fromτέλος,telos,'end, aim, goal') also known asphysico-theologicalargument, argument from design, or intelligent design argument, is arationalargument for the existence of God or, more generally, that complex functionality in the natural world, which looks designed, is evidence of an intelligent creator.^[79]^[80]^[81]^[82]^[83] The earliest recorded versions of this argument are associated withSocratesinancient Greece,although it has been argued that he was taking up an older argument.^[84]^[85]Later,PlatoandAristotledeveloped complex approaches to the proposal that the cosmos has an intelligent cause, but it was theStoicsduring the Roman era who, under their influence, "developed the battery of creationist arguments broadly known under the label 'The Argument from Design'".^[86]

Since the Roman era, various versions of the teleological argument have been associated with theAbrahamic religions.In theMiddle Ages,Islamic theologians such asAl-Ghazaliused the argument, although it was rejected as unnecessary byQuranicliteralists, and as unconvincing by manyIslamic philosophers.Later, the teleological argument was accepted bySaint Thomas Aquinas,and included as the fifth of his "Five Ways"of proving the existence of God. In early modern England, clergymen such asWilliam TurnerandJohn Raywere well-known proponents. In the early 18th century,William Derhampublished hisPhysico-Theology,which gave his "demonstration of the being and attributes of God from his works of creation".^[87]Later,William Paley,in his 1802Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deitypublished a prominent presentation of the design argument with his version of thewatchmaker analogyand the first use of the phrase "argument from design".^[88]

From its beginning, there have been numerous criticisms of the different versions of the teleological argument. Some have been written as responses to criticisms of non-teleological natural science which are associated with it. Especially important were the general logical arguments presented byDavid Humein hisDialogues Concerning Natural Religion,published in 1779, and the explanation of biological complexity given inCharles Darwin'sOrigin of Species,published in 1859.^[89]Since the 1960s, Paley's arguments have been influential in the development of acreation sciencemovement which used phrases such as "design by an intelligent designer", and after 1987 this was rebranded as "intelligent design",promoted by theintelligent design movementwhich refers to anintelligent designer.Both movements have used the teleological argument to argue against the modern scientific understanding ofevolution,and to claim that supernatural explanations should be given equal validity in the public school science curriculum.^[90]

Starting already in classical Greece, two approaches to the teleological argument developed, distinguished by their understanding of whether the natural order was literally created or not. The non-creationist approach starts most clearly with Aristotle, although many thinkers, such as theNeoplatonists,believed it was already intended by Plato. This approach is not creationist in a simple sense, because while it agrees that a cosmic intelligence is responsible for the natural order, it rejects the proposal that this requires a "creator" to physically make and maintain this order. The Neoplatonists did not find the teleological argument convincing, and in this they were followed by medieval philosophers such asAl-FarabiandAvicenna.Later,Averroesand Thomas Aquinas considered the argument acceptable, but not necessarily the best argument.

While the concept of an intelligence behind the natural order is ancient, a rational argument that concludes that we can know that the natural world has a designer, or a creating intelligence which has human-like purposes, appears to have begun withclassical philosophy.^[84]Religious thinkers inJudaism,Hinduism,Confucianism,IslamandChristianityalso developed versions of the teleological argument. Later, variants on the argument from design were produced inWestern philosophyand byChristian fundamentalism.

Contemporary defenders of the teleological argument are mainly Christians,^[91]for exampleRichard SwinburneandJohn Lennox.

Argument from natural laws

Theargument from natural laws(promoted byIsaac Newton,René Descartes,andRobert Boyle) holds that the existence of God is evident by the observation ofgoverning lawsand existing order in the Universe.^[92]

Argument from psychedelics

Human subjects in scientific studies have reported thatpsychedelic drugssuch asLSD,mescaline,psilocybin mushrooms,andDMTprovide perceptions of a transcendent reality, including encounters with God.^[93]^[94] Since prehistory, cultures around the world have usedentheogensfor the purpose of enablingmystical experiences.InThe Doors of Perception,English philosopher and writerAldous Huxleyrecounts his mystical experiences while he was under the influence of mescaline, arguing that the human brain normally filters reality, and that such drugs remove this filter, exposing humans to a broader spectrum of conscious awareness which he calls the "Mind at Large".

Argument from sensus divinitatis

The argument fromsensus divinitatis(Latin for 'sense of divinity') posits that humans are born with an innate sense, or cognitive mechanism, that grants them awareness of God's presence.Alvin Plantingaargues that if beliefs formed by sensory experience can be considered properly basic, requiring no external justification, then beliefs in theism formed by asensus divinitatiscan be considered properly basic as well, and thus require no external justification.^[95]Research in thecognitive science of religionsuggests that the human brain has a natural and evolutionary predisposition towards theistic beliefs, whichKelly James Clarkargues is empirical evidence for the presence of asensus divinitatis.^[96]

Rational warrant

PhilosopherStephen Toulminis notable for his work in the history of ideas^[97]that features the (rational) warrant: a statement that connects the premises to a conclusion.

Joseph Hinman applied Toulmin's approach in his argument for the existence of God, particularly in his bookThe Trace of God: A Rational Warrant for Belief.^[98]Instead of attempting to prove the existence of God, Hinman argues you can "demonstrate the rationally-warranted nature of belief".^[99]

Hinman uses a wide range of studies, including ones by Robert Wuthnow, Andrew Greeley, Mathes and Kathleen Nobel to establish that mystical experiences are life-transformative in a way that is significant, positive and lasting.^[100]He draws on additional work to add several additional major points to his argument. First, the people who have these experiences not only do not exhibit traditional signs of mental illness but, often, are in better mental and physical health than the general population due to the experience.^[101]Second, the experiences work. In other words, they provide a framework for navigating life that is useful and effective.^[102]All of the evidence of the positive effects of the experience upon people's lives he, adapting a term fromDerrida,terms "the trace of God": the footprints left behind that point to the impact.

Finally, he discusses how both religious experience and belief in God is, and has always been, normative among humans:^[103]people do not need to prove the existence of God. If there is no need to prove, Hinman argues, and the Trace of God (for instance, the impact of mystical experiences on them), belief in God is rationally warranted.^{[clarification needed]}

Inductive arguments

Some have put forward arguments for the existence of God based oninductive reasoning.For example, one class of philosophers asserts that the proofs for the existence of God present a fairly large probability though not absolute certainty. A number of obscure points, they say, always remain; an act of faith is required to dismiss these difficulties. This view is maintained, among others, by theScottishstatesmanArthur Balfourin his bookThe Foundations of Belief(1895). The opinions set forth in this work were adopted inFrancebyFerdinand Brunetière,the editor of theRevue des deux Mondes.Many orthodox Protestants express themselves in the same manner, as, for instance, Dr. E. Dennert, President of the Kepler Society, in his workIst Gott tot?^[104]

Metaphysical arguments

Argument from degree

Theargument from degrees,also known as the degrees of perfection argument or thehenologicalargument,^[105]is an argument for the existence of God first proposed by mediaevalRoman CatholictheologianThomas Aquinasas one of thefive waysto philosophically argue in favour ofGod's existence in hisSumma Theologica.It is based onontological and theological notions of perfection.^[106]Contemporary Thomist scholars are often in disagreement on themetaphysicaljustification for this proof.^{[citation needed]}According to Edward Feser, the metaphysics involved in the argument has more to do withAristotlethanPlato;hence, while the argument presupposes realism about universals and abstract objects, it would be more accurate to say Aquinas is thinking of Aristotelian realism and not Platonic realism per se.

Argument from desire

Theargument from desireis anargumentfor the existence of theimmortality of the soul.^[107]The best-known defender of the argument is the Christian writerC. S. Lewis.Briefly and roughly, the argument states that humans' natural desire for eternal happiness must be capable of satisfaction, because all natural desires are capable of satisfaction. Versions of the argument have been offered since the Middle Ages, and the argument continues to have defenders today, such asPeter Kreeft^[108]andFrancis Collins.^[109]

C. S. Lewis, inMere Christianityand elsewhere, posed that all natural desires have a natural object. One thirsts, and there exists water to quench this thirst; One hungers, and there exists food to satisfy this hunger. He then argued that the human desire for perfect justice, perfect peace, perfect happiness, and other intangibles strongly implies the existence of such things, though they seem unobtainable on earth. He further posed that the unquenchable desires of this life strongly imply that we are intended for a different life, necessarily governed by a God who can provide the desired intangibles.^[110]

Argument from love

Theargument from loveis anargumentfor the existence of God that suggests the depth, complexity, and universality of love point to a transcendent source or purpose.

Argument from mathematics

The argument from mathematics is presented by American philosopherWilliam Lane Craig.In thephilosophy of mathematics,the ontological status of mathematical entities, such as numbers, sets, and functions is debated. Within this philosophical context, two primary positions emerge:mathematical realismandmathematical anti-realism.Realists argue that mathematical objects exist independently of human thought as abstract, non-causal entities. In contrast, anti-realists deny the independent existence of these mathematical objects. A pivotal issue in this debate is the phenomenon that physicistEugene Wignertermed "the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics." This refers to the ability of mathematics to describe and predict phenomena in the natural world, exemplified by theoretical physicistPeter Higgs' use of mathematical equations to predict the existence of a fundamental particle, which was verified experimentally decades later.

Craig posits that this effectiveness presents a significant philosophical question about the applicability of mathematics, regardless of one's stance on the existence of mathematical entities. He argues that theism provides a more compelling framework for understanding this phenomenon thanmetaphysical naturalism.Under realism, non-theistic perspectives might view the alignment of mathematical abstractions with physical reality as a mere coincidence. However, a theistic realist might argue that this alignment is intentional, as a Supreme Being created the world based on these abstractmathematical structures.On the other hand, anti-realists, particularly those of a naturalistic persuasion, see mathematical relationships as reflections of real-world interactions, without necessitating abstract entities. Yet, Craig challenges this view by questioning why the physical world inherently exhibits such complex mathematical patterns without an intentional design. In contrast, the theistic anti-realist has a straightforward explanation: the world reflects a complex mathematical structure because it was created by God following an abstract model. Thus, Craig concludes that theism offers a superior explanation for why mathematics applies so effectively to understanding and predicting the physical world.^[111]

Argument from morality

Theargument from moralityis an argument for the existence of God. Arguments from morality tend to be based onmoral normativityor moral order. Arguments from moral normativity observe some aspect of morality and argue thatGodis the best or only explanation for this, concluding that God must exist. Arguments from moral order are based on the asserted need for moral order to exist in the universe. They claim that, for this moral order to exist, God must exist to support it. The argument from morality is noteworthy in that one cannot evaluate the soundness of the argument without attending to almost every important philosophical issue inmeta-ethics.

German philosopherImmanuel Kantdevised an argument from morality based onpractical reason.Kant argued that the goal of humanity is to achieve perfect happiness and virtue (thesummum bonum) and believed that anafterlifemust be assumed to exist in order for this to be possible, and that God must be assumed to exist to provide this. Rather than aiming to prove the existence of God, however, Kant was simply attempting to demonstrate that all moral thought requires the assumption that God exists, and therefore that we are entitled to make such an assumption only as a regulative principle rather than a constitutive principle (meaning that such a principle can guide our actions, but it does not provide knowledge). In his bookMere Christianity,C. S. Lewisargued that "conscience reveals to us a moral law whose source cannot be found in the natural world, thus pointing to a supernatural Lawgiver."^[112]^[113]Lewis argued that accepting the validity of human reason as a given must include accepting the validity of practical reason, which could not be valid without reference to a higher cosmic moral order which could not exist without a God to create and/or establish it. A related argument is from conscience;John Henry Newmanargued that theconsciencesupports the claim that objective moral truths exist because it drives people to act morally even when it is not in their own interest. Newman argued that, because the conscience suggests the existence of objective moral truths, God must exist to give authority to these truths.

Contemporary defenders of the argument from morality areGraham Ward,Alister McGrathandWilliam Lane Craig.

Argument from reason

Theargument from reasonis atranscendental argumentagainstmetaphysical naturalismand for the existence of God (or at least asupernaturalbeing that is the source of human reason). The best-known defender of the argument isC. S. Lewis.Lewis first defended the argument at length in his 1947 book,Miracles: A Preliminary Study.In the second edition ofMiracles(1960), Lewis substantially revised and expanded the argument.

Contemporary defenders of the argument from reason includeAlvin Plantinga,Victor ReppertandWilliam Hasker.^{[citation needed]}

Transcendental argument

TheTranscendental Argument for the existence of God (TAG)is anargumentthat attempts to prove the existence of God by appealing to thenecessary conditionsfor thepossibilityofexperienceandknowledge.^[114]

A version was formulated byImmanuel Kantin his 1763 workThe Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of God.C. S. Lewis'sargument from reasonis also a kind of transcendental argument.

Most contemporary formulations of a transcendental argument for God have been developed within theframeworkofChristian presuppositional apologeticsand the likes ofCornelius Van TilandGreg Bahnsen.^[115]

Subjective arguments

Argument from religious experience

The argument from religious experience holds that the best explanation forreligious experiencesis that they are actual perceptions of God's presence. Philosopher Robert Sloan Lee notes that this argument possesses an "unexpected resilience" despite seemingly being able to be easily defeated by simple objections, such as pointing out the existence ofhallucinations.^[116]PhilosopherWilliam J. Abrahamstates "We do not generally believe that because some reports of ordinary natural objects sometimes involve illusion, hallucination, and the like, then all reports do so".^[116]He continues, "If we insist that they apply only to religious experience, then we face the embarrassing fact that we apply standards in the religious sphere which we do not apply elsewhere".^[116]

Arguments from witnesses' testimony

Arguments from testimony rely on the testimony or experience of witnesses, possibly embodying the propositions of a specific revealedreligion.Swinburne argues that it is a principle of rationality that one should accept testimony unless there are strong reasons for not doing so.^[117]

Thewitness argumentgives credibility to personalwitnesses,contemporary and throughout the ages. A variation of this is theargument from miracles(also referred to as "the priest stories" ) which relies on testimony of supernatural events to establish the existence of God.
Themajority argumentargues that the theism of people throughout most of recorded history and in many different places providesprima faciedemonstration of God's existence.
Islam asserts that the revelation of its holy book, theQur'an,and its unique literary attributes, vindicate its divine authorship, and thus the existence of God.^[118]^[119]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,also known asMormonism,similarly asserts that the miraculous appearance of God, Jesus Christ, and angels toJoseph Smithand others and subsequent finding and translation of theBook of Mormonestablishes the existence of God. The wholeLatter Day Saint movementmakes the same claim for exampleCommunity of Christ,Church of Christ (Temple Lot),Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite),Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite),Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite),etc.^{[citation needed]}
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite), similarly asserts that the finding and translation of thePlates of Laban,also known as the Brass Plates, into theBook of the Law of the LordandVoree platesbyJames Strang,One Mighty and Strong,establishes the existence of God.^{[citation needed]}
- Various sects that have broken from the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) (such asChurch of Christ "With the Elijah Message"andChurch of Christ (Assured Way)) claim that the message brought byJohn the Baptist,One Mighty and Strong, toOtto FettingandW. A. DravesinThe Word of the Lord Brought to Mankind by an Angelestablishes the existence of God.^{[citation needed]}

Arguments from historical events

ChristianityandJudaismassert that God intervened in key specific moments in history, especially atthe Exodusand the giving of theTen Commandmentsin front of all the tribes of Israel, positing an argument from empirical evidence stemming from sheer number of witnesses, thus demonstrating his existence.^[120]^{[unreliable source?]}
Christological argumentsassert that certain events of the ChristianNew Testamentare historically accurate, and prove God's existence, namely:
- TheResurrection of Jesus^[121](anargument from miracles)

Arguments from the authority of historical personages

These arguments are anappeal to authority:

The claims of Jesus, as a morally upstanding person, to be the son of God
Jesus, said to be a wise person, believed that God exists
The belief ofLekhraj Kripalani,who founded theBrahma Kumarisreligion when God was said to enter his body^[122]^[123]

Anecdotal arguments

The sincere seeker's argument, espoused by Muslim Sufis of the Tasawwuf tradition, posits that every individual who follows a formulaic path towards guidance, arrives at the same destination of conviction in the existence of God and specifically in the monotheistic tenets and laws of Islam. This apparent natural law for guidance and belief could only be consistent if the formula and supplication were being answered by the same Divine entity being addressed, as claimed in Islamic revelations. This was formally organized by Imam Abu HamidAl-Ghazaliin such notable works as "Deliverance from Error" and "The Alchemy of Happiness", in Arabic "Kimiya-yi sa'ādat".The path includes following the golden rule of no harm to others and treating others with compassion, silence or minimal speech, seclusion, daily fasting or minimalist diet of water and basic nourishment, honest wages, and daily supplication towards" the Creator of the Universe "for guidance.^[124]^[125]
TheArgument from a proper basisargues that belief in God is "properly basic"; that it is similar to statements like "I see a chair" or "I feel pain".^{[citation needed]}Such beliefs are non-falsifiable and, thus, neither provable nor disprovable; they concern perceptual beliefs or indisputable mental states.
InGermany,the School ofFriedrich Heinrich Jacobitaught that human reason is able to perceive the suprasensible. Jacobi distinguished three faculties: sense,reason,and understanding. Just as sense has immediate perception of the material so has reason immediate perception of the immaterial, while the understanding brings these perceptions to a person's consciousness and unites them to one another.^[126]God's existence, then, cannot be proven (Jacobi, like Immanuel Kant, rejected the absolute value of the principle of causality), it must be felt by the mind.
The same theory was advocated in Germany byFriedrich Schleiermacher,who assumed an inner religious sense by means of which people feel religious truths. According to Schleiermacher, religion consists solely in this inner perception, and dogmatic doctrines are inessential.^[127]

Hindu arguments

The school of Vedanta argues that one of the proofs of the existence of God is the law ofkarma.In a commentary toBrahma Sutras(III, 2, 38, and 41),Adi Sankaraargues that the original karmic actions themselves cannot bring about the proper results at some future time; neither can super sensuous, non-intelligent qualities likeadrstaby themselves mediate the appropriate, justly deserved pleasure and pain. The fruits, according to him must be administered through the action of a conscious agent, namely, a supreme being (Ishvara).^[128]TheNyayaschool make similar arguments.

Other arguments

Theevolutionary argument against naturalism,which argues that naturalistic evolution is incapable of providing humans with the cognitive apparatus necessary for their knowledge to have positive epistemic status.^[129]
An argument from belief in God being properly basic as presented by Alvin Plantinga.^[130]
Argument from Personal Identity.^[131]
Argument from the "divine attributes of scientific law".^[132]

Arguments against the existence of God

The arguments below aim to show that God does not exist—by showing a creator is unnecessary orcontradictory,at odds with knownscientificorhistoricalfacts, or that there is insufficient proof that God exists.

Logical arguments

The following arguments deduce, mostly through self-contradiction, the non-existence of God as "the Creator".

No scientific evidence of God's existence has been found. Therefore, according toscientific skepticorscientistworldviews, whether or not God exists is unknown; or even, God does not exist (depending on thestrengthof such worldviews).^[133]
Stephen Hawkingand co-authorLeonard Mlodinowstate in their bookThe Grand Designthat it is reasonable to ask who or what created the universe, but if the answer is God,then the question has merely been deflected to that of who created God.Both authors claim that it is possible to answer these questions purely within the realm of science, and without invoking any divine beings.^[134]Christian scholars, likeLeonhard EulerandBernard d'Espagnat,^[135]disagree with that kind of skeptical argument.
Dawkins'Ultimate Boeing 747 gambitanalogizes the above. Some theists argue thatevolutionand abiogenesis are akin to a hurricane assembling a Boeing 747 — that the universe (or life) is too complex, cannot be made by non-living matter alone and would have to be designed by someone, who theists call God. Dawkin's counter-argument is that such a God would himself be complex—the "Ultimate" Boeing 747—and therefore require a designer.
Theological noncognitivismis the argument that religious language – specifically, words such as "God" – are not cognitively meaningful and that irreducible definitions of God are circular.
The analogy ofRussell's teapotargues that theburden of prooffor the existence of God lies with the theist rather than the atheist; it can be considered an extension ofOccam's Razor.

Arguments from incompatible divine properties

Some arguments focus on the existence of specific conceptions of God as being omniscient, omnipotent, and morally perfect.

The Omnipotence Paradox

The Omnipotence Paradox is a philosophical problem that challenges the idea of an all-powerful God. The paradox argues that if God is truly omnipotent, then he should be able to do anything, including things that are logically impossible. However, if God cannot do something that is logically impossible, then he is not truly omnipotent. This paradox has been debated by philosophers for centuries and continues to be a topic of discussion in modern times.

The basic form of the Omnipotence Paradox can be presented as follows: Can God create a stone so heavy that he cannot lift it? If God can create such a stone, then he is not omnipotent because he cannot lift it. If God cannot create such a stone, then he is also not omnipotent because there is something he cannot do.^[136]

One of the earliest recorded discussions of the Omnipotence Paradox can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek philosopherEpicurus.In his work "Letter to Menoeceus,"Epicurus argues that if God is truly omnipotent, then he should be able to prevent evil from existing in the world. However, since evil does exist, either God is not omnipotent or he is not benevolent.^[137]

Another version of the omnipotence paradox involves God's ability to change the past. If God is truly omnipotent, then he should be able to change events that have already occurred. But if he can change the past, then he would be altering his own actions and decisions, which would mean that he was not truly free to act in the first place.^[138]

Another early discussion of the Omnipotence Paradox can be found in the writings of the medieval philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas argued that God's omnipotence was limited by his own nature and by logical laws. He believed that God could not perform actions that were logically contradictory, such as creating a square circle or making 2+2=5.^[139]

One of the most famous versions of this paradox is the question: "Can God create a being more powerful than himself?" This question implies a contradiction because if God is truly omnipotent, then he should be able to create anything, including a being more powerful than himself. However, if such a being exists, then God would no longer be omnipotent.^[140]

The omniscience paradox

The omniscience paradox challenges the idea that God can know everything that will happen in the future. If God knows everything that will happen in advance, then it seems that human beings do not have free will. After all, if God already knows what we will do in every situation, then it seems that we cannot choose to do anything differently.^[141]

Another version of the omniscience paradox involves God's knowledge of his own future actions. If God knows what he will do in advance, then it seems that he does not have the freedom to choose otherwise. But if he does not know what he will do, then he is not truly omniscient.^[142]

A more recent version of the omniscience paradox is the "paradox of the stone tablet." This argument goes as follows: suppose that God writes down everything that will happen in the future on a stone tablet. If God is truly omniscient, then he already knows what is written on the tablet. But if what is written on the tablet is true, then it seems that human beings do not have free will.^[143]

The contradiction of omniscience and omnipotence

The contradiction of omniscience and omnipotence has been a topic of philosophical debate for centuries. The concept of omniscience refers to the idea that God knows everything, while omnipotence refers to the idea that God is all-powerful. The contradiction arises when one considers whether an all-knowing God can also be all-powerful. If God knows everything, then he must know what he will do in the future, and if he knows what he will do in the future, then he cannot change his mind and do something else. This would mean that God is not all-powerful because he is limited by his knowledge of the future. On the other hand, if God is all-powerful, then he should be able to change his mind and do something else, but if he does this, then he cannot be all-knowing because he did not know what he was going to do in the first place.^[144]

The problem of evil

The problem of evil against God is one of the most challenging philosophical and theological issues. It seeks to reconcile the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and benevolent God with the presence of evil and suffering in the world. This problem has been debated for centuries by philosophers, theologians, and scholars from different religious traditions.

The problem of evil can be formulated in different ways. One common formulation is the logical problem of evil, which argues that the existence of evil is logically incompatible with the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly good God. This argument goes as follows:

1. Suppose God is defined by the properties of being all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly good.

2. If God is all-powerful, then he can prevent evil from occurring.

3. If God is all-knowing, then he knows where evil exists and knows how to eliminate evil.

4. If God is perfectly good, then he would want to prevent evil from occurring.

5. Evil exists.

6. Therefore, God does not exist.

This argument challenges the traditional concept of God as an omnipotent and omnibenevolent being who created the world and governs it with love and care. If such a God exists, why does he allow evil to happen? The existence of natural disasters, diseases, wars, crimes, and other forms of suffering seems to contradict the idea of a loving and compassionate God.

Another formulation of the problem of evil is the evidential problem of evil, which argues that while the existence of evil may not logically disprove the existence of God, it provides strong evidence against his existence. This argument acknowledges that it is possible for an all-powerful and all-good God to have reasons for allowing evil to occur that are beyond our understanding. However, it contends that the sheer amount and intensity of evil in the world make it highly unlikely that such reasons exist.

The problem of evil has been a central concern in the philosophy of religion since ancient times. In his dialogue "The Euthyphro,"Platoraises the question of whether the gods love what is good because it is good, or whether it is good because the gods love it. This question raises the issue of whether morality is independent of God or dependent on him. If morality is independent of God, then God may not be necessary for moral values and duties to exist. If morality is dependent on God, then it raises the problem of whether God's commands are arbitrary or whether there is a reason behind them.^[145]^[146]^[147]^[148]

The problem of divine immutability

The problem of divine immutability is a philosophical and theological issue that has been debated for centuries. At the heart of the problem is the question of whether or not God can change. This question has far-reaching implications for how we understand the nature of God, the relationship between God and creation, and the problem of evil.

One of the main arguments for divine immutability is based on the idea that God is perfect and complete in all respects. According to this view, if God were to change in any way, it would imply that there was something lacking or imperfect in God's nature. This would be inconsistent with the idea of a perfect and complete being.^[149]

Another argument for divine immutability is based on the idea that God exists outside of time. According to this view, God's nature is eternal and unchanging, and therefore cannot be affected by anything that happens within time. This means that God cannot change in response to events in the world, since these events are themselves temporal and subject to change.^[150]

However, there are also a number of arguments against divine immutability. One of these is based on the idea that if God cannot change, then it would be impossible for God to interact with the world in any meaningful way. According to this view, if God's nature is fixed and unchanging, then there can be no real relationship between God and creation.^[151]

Another argument against divine immutability is based on the problem of evil. If God cannot change, then it would seem that God must have always known about and allowed for the existence of evil in the world. This raises questions about how we can reconcile a perfectly good and loving God with a world that contains so much suffering and injustice.^[152]

Argument from free will

The argument from free will contends that omniscience and the free will of humanity are incompatible and that any conception of God that incorporates both properties is therefore inherently contradictory: if God is omniscient, then God already knows humanity's future, contradicting the claim of free will.^[153]^[154]

The problem of hell

The problem of hell is one of the most difficult challenges to the existence of God. The basic argument is that if God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly good, then why would he create a place of eternal punishment like hell? This question has been debated by philosophers and theologians for centuries.

The problem of hell can be traced to ancient times. The concept of an afterlife was common in many cultures, but the idea of eternal punishment was not. The ancient Greeks believed in a realm called Hades where the dead went, but it was not a place of punishment. The ancient Egyptians believed in a judgment after death that determined whether a person would go to a good or bad afterlife, but again, it was not eternal punishment. It was not until the rise of Christianity that the concept of eternal punishment in hell became widespread.

TheChristian concept of hellis based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Bible.^{[citation needed]}According to Christian theology, hell is a place of eternal punishment for those who have rejected God and lived sinful lives. It is often described as a place of fire and torment where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. The idea of eternal punishment in hell has been controversial throughout Christian history.

One argument against the existence of God based on the problem of hell is that it seems incompatible with God's perfect goodness. If God is perfectly good, then why would he create a place like hell where people suffer for eternity? This argument has been made by many philosophers throughout history.^[155]^[156]^[157]^[158]^[159]

Transcendental Argument for the Non-existence of God (TANG)

The Transcendental Argument for the Non-Existence of God (TANG) is a philosophical argument that attempts to demonstrate the non-existence of God by showing that the concept of God is logically incompatible with certain necessary conditions for rationality. The argument is based on the idea that if certain necessary conditions for rationality are true, then the existence of God is impossible. The proponents of TANG argue that it is a powerful argument against theism, and it has been the subject of much debate in philosophical circles.

The basic structure of TANG can be summarized as follows:

1. If rationality exists, then certain necessary conditions for rationality must be true.

2. The existence of God is logically incompatible with these necessary conditions for rationality.

3. Therefore, if these necessary conditions for rationality are true, then the existence of God is impossible.

The proponents of TANG argue that there are three necessary conditions for rationality:

1. The laws of logic are valid.

2. Our cognitive faculties are reliable.

3. There is an objective moral standard.

According to TANG, if these three necessary conditions are true, then the existence of God is impossible.

Firstly, proponents of TANG argue that the laws of logic are valid and necessary for rationality. They contend that if the laws of logic were not valid, then we could not reason or make sense of anything. Therefore, they argue that it is necessary for rationality that the laws of logic be valid and universally applicable.

Secondly, proponents of TANG argue that our cognitive faculties must be reliable in order for us to reason rationally. They contend that if our cognitive faculties were not reliable, then we could not trust our own reasoning processes and would have no basis for knowledge or belief. Therefore, they argue that it is necessary for rationality that our cognitive faculties be reliable.

Finally, proponents of TANG argue that there must be an objective moral standard in order for us to reason rationally. They contend that if there were no objective moral standard, then we could not make moral judgments or reason about ethical issues. Therefore, they argue that it is necessary for rationality that there be an objective moral standard.

Proponents of TANG argue that the existence of God is logically incompatible with these necessary conditions for rationality. They contend that if God exists, then the laws of logic are contingent on his will and could be different from what they are. They also argue that if God exists, then our cognitive faculties are contingent on his will and could be unreliable. Finally, they argue that if God exists, then morality is contingent on his will and there is no objective moral standard.

Therefore, proponents of TANG conclude that if these necessary conditions for rationality are true, then the existence of God is impossible. They argue that the concept of God is logically incompatible with these necessary conditions and therefore cannot exist.^[160]^[161]^[162]^[163]^[164]

Atheist-Existential Argument

Theatheist-existentialargument posits that human existence is characterized by absurdity, meaninglessness, and despair. According to this argument, humans are finite beings living in an infinite universe, and their existence is devoid of any inherent purpose or meaning. Proponents of this argument contend that if God existed, He would have provided humanity with a clear purpose and meaning for existence. However, since no such purpose or meaning exists, it follows that God does not exist.

Jean-Paul Sartrewas one of the most prominent proponents of the atheist-existential argument. In his book "Existentialism is a Humanism,"Sartre argues that human existence is absurd because there is no inherent purpose or meaning to life. He contends that humans are free to create their own meaning and purpose but are ultimately responsible for their choices and actions. Sartre asserts that if God existed, He would have provided humanity with a clear purpose and meaning for existence. However, since no such purpose or meaning exists, it follows that God does not exist.^[165]

Similarly,Friedrich Nietzscheargues in his book "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"that human existence is meaningless because there is no inherent purpose or meaning to life. Nietzsche contends that humans must create their own values and meanings, and that the concept of God is a human invention that serves as a crutch for those who cannot accept the absurdity of existence. Nietzsche asserts that the death of God is a necessary step in human evolution, as it allows humanity to embrace its freedom and create its own values and meanings.^[166]

Albert Camusalso presents a similar argument in his book "The Myth of Sisyphus."Camus argues that human existence is absurd because there is no inherent purpose or meaning to life. He contends that humans must create their own meaning in the face of this absurdity, and that the concept of God is a distraction from this task. Camus asserts that the only way to confront the absurdity of existence is through rebellion, which involves embracing life despite its lack of inherent meaning.^[167]

Martin Heideggeralso presents an existentialist argument for the non-existence of God in his book "Being and Time."Heidegger contends that human existence is characterized by anxiety and dread because humans are aware of their mortality and the ultimate futility of their actions. He argues that if God existed, He would have provided humanity with a clear purpose and meaning for existence, thus alleviating this anxiety. However, since no such purpose or meaning exists, it follows that God does not exist.^[168]^[169]

The "no reason" argument

The "no reason" argument tries to show that an omnipotent and omniscient being would not have any reason to act in any way, specifically by creating the universe, because it would have no needs, wants, or desires since these very concepts are subjectively human. Since the universe exists, there is a contradiction, and therefore, an omnipotent god cannot exist. This argument is expounded upon byScott Adamsin the bookGod's Debris,which puts forward a form ofPandeismas its fundamental theological model. A similar argument is put forward inLudwig von Mises's "Human Action". He referred to it as the "praxeological argument" and claimed that a perfect being would have long ago satisfied all its wants and desires and would no longer be able to take action in the present without proving that it had been unable to achieve its wants faster—showing it imperfect.

The argument is based on the idea that if something exists, there must be a reason or explanation for its existence. Therefore, if God exists, there must be a reason or explanation for his existence. However, proponents of the "no reason" argument argue that there is no reason or explanation for God's existence, and therefore he does not exist.

One of the main proponents of the "no reason" argument isJ. L. Mackie.In his book "The Miracle of Theism: Arguments For and Against the Existence of God," Mackie argues that the concept of an uncaused cause, which is often used to explain God's existence, is flawed. He argues that if everything must have a cause or explanation for its existence, then God must also have a cause or explanation for his existence. However, since God is often described as an uncaused cause, this creates a contradiction in the concept of God.^[170]

Another proponent of the "no reason" argument is Bertrand Russell. In his book "Why I Am Not a Christian,"Russell argues that the concept of God as an uncaused cause is illogical. He argues that if everything must have a cause or explanation for its existence, then God must also have a cause or explanation for his existence. However, since God is often described as an uncaused cause, this creates a contradiction in the concept of God.^[171]

Furthermore, proponents of the "no reason" argument argue that the burden of proof lies with those who claim that God exists. They argue that since there is no evidence or reason to believe in God's existence, it is more reasonable to assume that he does not exist.

In addition to these arguments, proponents of the "no reason" argument also point to the problem of evil as evidence against God's existence. They argue that if God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good, then he would not allow evil to exist in the world for any reason. He would have no specific reason for doing so. However, since evil does exist and is allowed to, this creates a contradiction in the concept of God.^[172]^[173]^[174]

Empirical arguments

The following empirical arguments rely on observations or experimentation to yield their conclusions.

Argument from naturalism

The argument from naturalism is a philosophical argument that asserts that the natural world is all there is and that supernatural explanations are unnecessary. This argument is based on the premise that the universe operates according to natural laws and that these laws can be discovered through scientific inquiry. The argument from naturalism has been a topic of debate among philosophers for centuries, with proponents and opponents presenting various arguments and counterarguments.

The argument from naturalism can be traced to ancient Greek philosophy, where philosophers such asDemocritusand Epicurus argued that the universe was composed of atoms and void, with no need for supernatural explanations. However, it was not until the Enlightenment period in the 18th century that naturalism became a dominant philosophical position. During this time, philosophers such as David Hume and Immanuel Kant argued that knowledge could only be derived from empirical observation and rational analysis, without recourse to supernatural explanations.

One of the key premises of the argument from naturalism is that the natural world is all there is. According to this view, there are no supernatural entities or forces that exist beyond the physical realm. This premise is based on the assumption that everything in the universe operates according to natural laws, which can be discovered through scientific inquiry. As philosopherPaul Kurtzstates, "the naturalistic outlook holds that nature is a self-contained system of physical causes and effects"^[175]

Another important premise of the argument from naturalism is that supernatural explanations are unnecessary. According to this view, any phenomenon in the universe can be explained through natural causes and processes, without invoking supernatural entities or forces. This premise is based on the assumption that naturalistic explanations are sufficient to account for all observed phenomena. As philosopher William Rowe states, "Naturalism holds that there is no need to postulate any supernatural entities or forces in order to explain the world"^[176]

Proponents of the argument from naturalism argue that naturalistic explanations are more parsimonious than supernatural explanations. This means that naturalistic explanations are simpler and require fewer assumptions than supernatural explanations. For example, if a person observes a tree falling, a naturalistic explanation would be that the tree fell due to gravity, whereas a supernatural explanation would be that a deity caused the tree to fall. The naturalistic explanation is simpler and requires fewer assumptions than the supernatural explanation.

Opponents of the argument from naturalism argue that there are phenomena in the universe that cannot be explained through naturalistic causes and processes. These phenomena are often referred to as "supernatural" or "paranormal"and include things like miracles, psychic abilities, andnear-death experiences.According to opponents of naturalism, these phenomena require supernatural explanations.

However, proponents of the argument from naturalism counter that there is no empirical evidence to support supernatural explanations for these phenomena. They argue that many supposed supernatural phenomena can be explained through naturalistic causes and processes. For example, near-death experiences can be explained through changes in brain chemistry and oxygen deprivation, rather than as evidence of an afterlife.^[177]^[178]^[179]

The Argument from Evolution

The Argument from Evolution against God's existence is a philosophical argument that attempts to prove the non-existence of God by using the theory of evolution. The argument is based on the idea that the theory of evolution provides a natural explanation for the diversity of life on Earth, and therefore, there is no need to invoke a divine creator.

The theory of evolution was first proposed byCharles Darwinin his book "On the Origin of Species"in 1859. According to the theory, all living organisms have evolved over time from a common ancestor through a process of natural selection. Natural selection is the process by which certain traits become more or less common in a population over time depending on their usefulness for survival and reproduction. Over millions of years, this process has led to the vast diversity of life we see on Earth today.^[180]

One of the key arguments against God's existence based on evolution is known as the argument from imperfection. This argument suggests that if God were responsible for creating all life on Earth, then why would he create imperfect organisms? For example, why would he create animals with vestigial organs that serve no purpose or cause suffering?^[181]

Another argument against God's existence based on evolution is known as the argument from bad design. This argument suggests that if God were responsible for creating all life on Earth, then why would he create organisms with such poor design features? For example, why would he create animals with eyes that are poorly designed or prone to disease?^[182]

The Euthyphro dilemma

The Euthyphro dilemma is a philosophical problem that raises questions about the relationship between morality and God's existence. The dilemma was first presented by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato in his dialogue "Euthyphro." The dilemma asks whether something is morally good because God commands it, or whether God commands it because it is morally good. This dilemma has been used as an argument against the existence of God, as it seems to suggest that either God is not necessary for morality or that God's commands are arbitrary and not based on any objective standard of morality.^[145]

The first horn of the dilemma suggests that something is morally good because God commands it. This view is known as divine command theory, which states that moral truths are grounded in God's will or commands. According to this view, God's commands determine what is right and wrong, and morality is dependent on God's existence. If God did not exist, then there would be no objective basis for morality.

The second horn of the dilemma suggests that God commands something because it is morally good. This view implies that there is an objective standard of morality that exists independently of God's will. In other words, God recognizes what is morally good and commands us to follow it. This view is known as moral realism, which holds that moral truths exist independently of human opinion or belief.

Critics of the divine command theory argue that it leads to a problematic conclusion: if something is morally good simply because God commands it, then anything could be considered morally good if God commanded it. For example, if God commanded us to kill innocent people, then killing innocent people would be considered morally good according to divine command theory. This seems to suggest that morality is arbitrary and dependent on God's whims rather than being grounded in any objective standard.

On the other hand, critics of moral realism argue that it raises questions about the nature of morality itself. If there is an objective standard of morality that exists independently of God's will, then what is the source of this standard? Is it a natural law, or is it something else entirely? Furthermore, if there is an objective standard of morality, then why do different cultures and societies have different moral codes? This seems to suggest that morality is not as objective as moral realists claim.^[183]^[184]^[185]^[186]

The problem of anthropic argument

Theanthropic argumentis a philosophical and theological concept that argues that the universe and its physical laws are finely tuned to allow for the existence of life and, therefore, must have been designed by an intelligent creator. Proponents of this argument claim that the odds of the universe existing as it does by chance are so astronomically low that it is more reasonable to believe in a creator than not. However, opponents of the anthropic argument argue that it is flawed and does not necessarily prove the existence of God.

One of the main criticisms of the anthropic argument is that it suffers from the fallacy ofselection bias.This is because proponents only consider the universe as it exists today, without taking into account all the other possible ways it could have existed. For example, if the physical laws were different, life as we know it may not have been possible, but that does not mean that some other form of life could not have existed under those conditions. Therefore, opponents argue that just because our universe allows for life does not necessarily mean that it was designed to do so.

Another criticism of the anthropic argument is that it assumes that life is inherently valuable and important. Opponents argue that this is a subjective value judgment and cannot be used as evidence for the existence of God. Additionally, opponents point out that there are many aspects of the universe that are not conducive to life, such asblack holesorsupernovae,which could be seen as evidence against a benevolent creator.

Furthermore, opponents argue that the anthropic argument is based on a flawed understanding ofprobability.They claim that just because something is unlikely does not mean it is impossible, and therefore, low probabilities cannot be used as evidence for design. Additionally, opponents argue that probability calculations can only be made if all possible outcomes are known, which is impossible in the case of the universe.

Opponents of the anthropic argument also point out that there are alternative explanations for the fine-tuning of the universe. Some scientists propose themultiverse theory,which suggests that our universe is just one of many possible universes, each with its own set of physical laws. In this scenario, it is not surprising that we find ourselves in a universe that allows for life because we could not exist in any other type of universe. Other scientists suggest that the physical constants of the universe are not actually fixed but can vary over time, which could explain why our universe appears to be finely tuned for life.^[187]^[161]^[70]^[188]^[189]

Argument from the problem of miracles

The problem of miracles is rooted in the concept of natural law, which assumes that the universe operates according to predictable and consistent laws. According to this view, any event that violates natural law, such as a miracle, cannot occur. Therefore, if a miracle is claimed to have occurred, it must be either a misunderstanding or a deliberate deception.

One of the most prominent advocates of the problem of miracles was the Scottish philosopher David Hume. In his essay "Of Miracles,"Hume argued that it is always more reasonable to believe that someone is mistaken or lying than to accept that a miracle has occurred. He claimed that there is no amount of testimony or evidence that can prove a miracle beyond doubt because it always contradicts natural law. Hume's argument was based on his empiricist philosophy, which held that all knowledge comes from sensory experience and that claims about supernatural events are not supported by such experience.^[190]

The argument from the problem of religious experience

This argument suggests that religious experiences are subjective and cannot be verified or falsified, making them unreliable as evidence for the existence of God.

The argument from the problem of religious experience against God's existence can be formulated as follows:

1. Religious experiences are subjective and cannot be verified or falsified.

2. If religious experiences cannot be verified or falsified, then they are unreliable as evidence for the existence of God.

3. Therefore, religious experiences are unreliable as evidence for the existence of God.

Premise 1 is based on the fact that religious experiences are personal and subjective. They are often described in terms of feelings, emotions, and sensations that are difficult to describe or measure objectively. For example, a person may claim to have had a mystical experience in which they felt a deep sense of unity with all things. However, this experience cannot be objectively measured or verified by others. It is purely subjective and exists only in the mind of the individual who had it.

Premise 2 follows logically from premise 1. If religious experiences cannot be verified or falsified, then they cannot be used as evidence to support any particular belief about God's existence or nature. This is because there is no way to distinguish between genuine religious experiences and mere hallucinations or delusions. Without objective criteria for verifying or falsifying religious experiences, they remain purely subjective and cannot be used as evidence in any rational debate about the existence of God.

Premise 3 is the conclusion that follows logically from premises 1 and 2. If religious experiences are unreliable as evidence for the existence of God, then they cannot be used to support any argument for the existence of God. This means that any argument that relies on religious experiences as evidence for God's existence is inherently flawed and cannot be taken seriously by those who demand objective evidence for their beliefs.^[191]^[192]^[193]^[194]^[195]

Argument from inconsistent revelations

Religious pluralismis an attitude or policy regarding the diversity ofreligious belief systemsco-existing in society. It can indicate one or more of the following:

Recognizing andtoleratingthe religious diversity of a society or country, promotingfreedom of religion,and definingsecularismasneutrality(of thestateornon-sectarianinstitution) on issues of religion as opposed to opposition of religion in thepublic forumorpublic squarethat is open topublic expression,and promotingfriendly separation of religion and stateas opposed tohostile separationorantitheismespoused by other forms ofsecularism.
Any of several forms of religiousinclusivism.One such worldview holds that one's own religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus acknowledges that at least some truths and true values exist in other religions. Another concept is that two or more religions with mutually exclusive truth claims are equally valid; this may be considered a form of eithertoleration(a concept that arose as a result of theEuropean wars of religion) ormoral relativism.
Perennialism(based on the concept ofphilosophia perennis) is the understanding that the exclusive claims of different religions turn out, upon closer examination, to be variations of universal truths that have been taught since time immemorial. While some perennialists areuniversalistswho acceptreligious syncretism,those of theTraditionalist Schoolreject it, and uphold the importance of the historical, "orthodox" faiths.
Sometimes as a synonym forecumenism,i.e., the promotion of some level of unity, co-operation, and improved understanding between different religions or differentdenominationswithin a single religion.
As a term for the condition of harmonious co-existence between adherents of differentreligionsorreligious denominations.

Argument from parsimony

The argument fromparsimony(usingOccam's razor) contends that since natural (non-supernatural) theories adequately explain thedevelopment of religionand belief in gods,^[196]the actual existence of such supernatural agents is superfluous and may be dismissed unless otherwise proven to be required to explain the phenomenon.

Argument from historical induction

The argument from "historical induction" concludes that since most theistic religions throughout history (e.g.ancient Egyptian religion,ancient Greek religion) and their gods ultimately come to be regarded as untrue or incorrect, all theistic religions, including contemporary ones, are therefore most likely untrue/incorrect by induction.H. L. Menckenwrote a short piece about the topic entitled "Memorial Service" in 1922.^[197]It is implied as part of Stephen F. Roberts' popular quotation:

I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

Argument from nonbelief

Anargument from nonbeliefis aphilosophical argumentfor the non-existence ofGodthat asserts an inconsistency between God's existence and a world in which people fail to recognize him. It is similar to the classicargument from evilin affirming an inconsistency between the world that exists and the world that would exist if God had certain desires combined with the power to see them through.

There are two key varieties of the argument. The argument from reasonable nonbelief (or the argument from divine hiddenness) was first elaborated inJ. L. Schellenberg's 1993 bookDivine Hiddenness and Human Reason.This argument says that if God existed (and was perfectly good and loving) every reasonable person would have been brought to believe in God; however, there are reasonable nonbelievers; therefore, this God does not exist.

Theodore Drangesubsequently developed the argument from nonbelief, based on the mere existence of nonbelief in God. Drange considers the distinction between reasonable (by which Schellenberg means inculpable) and unreasonable (culpable) nonbelief to be irrelevant and confusing. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of academic discussion is concerned with Schellenberg's formulation.

Arguments from the poor design of the universe

Theproblem of evilcontests the existence of a god who is both omnipotent andomnibenevolentby arguing that such a god should not permit the existence ofevilorsuffering.The theist responses are calledtheodicies.Similarly, theargument from poor designcontends that an all-powerful, benevolent creator god would not have created lifeforms, including humans, which seem to exhibit poor design.

Richard Carrierhas argued that the universe itself seems to be very ill-designed for life, because the vast majority of the space in the universe is utterly hostile to it. This is arguably unexpected on the hypothesis that the universe was designed by a god, especially apersonal god.Carrier contends that such a god could have easily created ageocentric universeex nihilointhe recent past,in which most of the volume of the universe is inhabitable by humans and other lifeforms—precisely the kind of universe that most humans believed in until therise of modern science.While a personal godmighthave created the kind of universe we observe, Carrier contends that this is not the kind of universe we would mostlikelyexpect to see if such a god existed. He finally argues that, unlike theism, our observations about the nature of the universe are strongly expected on the hypothesis of atheism, since the universe would have to be vast, very old, and almost completely devoid of life if life were to havearisen by sheer chance.^[198]

Subjective arguments

Similar to thesubjectivearguments for the existence of God, subjective arguments against God's existence mainly rely on the testimony or experience of witnesses, or the propositions of a revealed religion in general.

The witness argument gives credibility to personal witnesses, contemporary and from the past, who disbelieve or strongly doubt the existence of God.
The conflicted religions argument notes that many religions give differing accounts as to what God is and what God wants; since all the contradictory accounts cannot be correct, many if not all religions must be incorrect.
The disappointment argument claims that if, when asked for, there is no visible help from God, there is no reason to believe that there is a God.

Hindu arguments

Atheistic Hindu doctrinescite various arguments for rejecting a creator God orIshvara.TheIASTof theSamkhyaschool states that there is no philosophical place for a creator God in this system. It is also argued in this text that the existence of Ishvara (God) cannot be proved and hence cannot be admitted to exist.^[199]Classical Samkhya argues against the existence of God on metaphysical grounds. For instance, it argues that an unchanging God cannot be the source of an ever-changing world. It says God is a necessary metaphysical assumption demanded by circumstances.^[200]The Sutras of Samkhya endeavor to prove that the idea of God is inconceivable and self-contradictory, and some^[which?]commentaries speak plainly on this subject. TheSankhya- tattva-kaumudi,commenting on Karika 57, argues that a perfect God can have no need to create a world, and if God's motive is kindness, Samkhya questions whether it is reasonable to call into existence beings who while non-existent had no suffering. Samkhya postulates that a benevolent deity ought to create only happy creatures, not an imperfect world like the real world.^[201]

According to Sinha, the following arguments were given by Samkhya philosophers against the idea of an eternal, self-caused, creator God:

If the existence ofkarmais assumed, the proposition of God as a moral governor of the universe is unnecessary. For, if God enforces the consequences of actions then he can do so without karma. If however, he is assumed to be within the law of karma, then karma itself would be the giver of consequences and there would be no need of a God.
Even if karma is denied, God still cannot be the enforcer of consequences. Because the motives of an enforcer God would be either egoistic or altruistic. Now, God's motives cannot be assumed to be altruistic because an altruistic God would not create a world so full of suffering. If his motives are assumed to be egoistic, then God must be thought to have desire, as agency or authority cannot be established in the absence of desire. However, assuming that God has desire would contradict God's eternal freedom which necessitates no compulsion in actions. Moreover, desire, according to Samkhya, is an attribute of prakṛti and cannot be thought to grow in God.
Despite arguments to the contrary, if God is still assumed to contain unfulfilled desires, this would cause him to suffer pain and other similar human experiences. Such a worldly God would be no better than Samkhya's notion of higher self.
Furthermore, there is no proof of the existence of God. He is not the object of perception, there exists no general proposition that can prove him by inference.

Therefore, Samkhya maintained that the various cosmological, ontological and teleological arguments could not prove God.^[202]

Proponents of the school ofMimamsa,which is based onritualsandorthopraxy,decided that the evidence allegedly proving the existence of God is insufficient. They argue that there is no need to postulate a maker for the world, just as there is no need for an author to compose the Vedas or a god to validate the rituals.^[203]Mimamsa argues that the gods named in the Vedas have no existence apart from themantrasthat speak their names. In that regard, the power of the mantras is what is seen as the power of gods.^[204]

Psychological aspects

Several authors have offered psychological or sociological explanations for belief in the existence of deities.

Psychologistsobserve that the majority of humans often ask existential questions such as "why we are here" and whether life has purpose. Some psychologists^{[weasel words]}have posited that religious beliefs may recruit cognitive mechanisms in order to satisfy these questions.William Jamesemphasized the inner religious struggle betweenmelancholyand happiness, and pointed totranceas a cognitive mechanism.Sigmund Freudstressed fear and pain, the need for a powerful parental figure, the obsessional nature of ritual, and the hypnotic state a community can induce as contributing factors to the psychology of religion.

Pascal Boyer'sReligion Explained(2002), based in part on his anthropological field work, treats belief in God as the result of the brain's tendency towardsagency detection.Boyer suggests that, because of evolutionary pressures, humans err on the side of attributing agency where there is not any. In Boyer's view, belief in supernatural entities spreads and becomes culturally fixed because of their memorability. The concept of "minimally counterintuitive" beings that differ from the ordinary in a small number of ways (such as being invisible, able to fly, or having access to strategic and otherwise secret information) leave a lasting impression that spreads through word-of-mouth.

Scott Atran'sIn Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion(2002) makes a similar argument and adds examination of the socially coordinating aspects of shared belief. InMinds and Gods: The Cognitive Foundations of Religion,Todd Tremlin follows Boyer in arguing that universal human cognitive process naturally produces the concept of the supernatural. Tremlin contends that an agency detection device (ADD) and atheory of mindmodule (ToMM) lead humans to suspect an agent behind every event. Natural events for which there is no obvious agent may be attributed to God (c.f.Act of God).

Notes

^It assumes that it is possible to single outpositiveproperties from among all properties. Gödel comments that "Positive means positive in themoral aestheticsense (independently of the accidental structure of the world)... It may also mean pureattributionas opposed toprivation(or containing privation). "(Gödel 1995), see also manuscript in (Gawlick 2012).
^As a profane example, if the property of being green is positive, that of not being red is, too (by axiom 1), hence that of being red is negative (by axiom 2). More generally, at most one color can be considered positive.
^Continuing the color example, a godlike object must have the unique color that is considered positive, or no color at all; both alternatives may seem counter-intuitive.
^If one considers thepartial order $\preceq$ defined by $\varphi \preceq \psi$ if $\square \forall y(\varphi (y)\to \psi (y))$ ,then Axioms 1-3 can be summarized by saying that positive properties form anultrafilteron this ordering. Definition 1 and Axiom 4 are needed to establish theGodlikeproperty as principal element of the ultrafilter.
^By removing all modal operators from axioms, definitions, proofs, and theorems, a modified version of theorem 2 is obtained saying "∃xG(x) ", i.e." There exists an object which has all positive, but no negative properties ". Nothing more than axioms 1-3, definition 1, and theorems 1-2 needs to be considered for this result.

References

^The Rationality of TheismquotingQuentin Smith"God is not 'dead' in academia; it returned to life in the late 1960s". They cite "the shift from hostility towards theism in Paul Edwards'sEncyclopedia of Philosophy(1967) to sympathy towards theism in the more recentRoutledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
^^a ^bDraper, Paul (2022)."Atheism and Agnosticism".The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
^Cruz De, Helen; Nichols, Ryan (28 January 2016).Advances in Religion, Cognitive Science, and Experimental Philosophy.Bloomsbury Academic. p. 135.ISBN 978-1-4742-2382-9.
^"PhilPapers Survey 2020".PhilPapers.
^Dawkins, Richard(2006).The God Delusion.Bantam Books. p.50.ISBN 978-0-618-68000-9.
^Vatican Council I,Dei Filius2; quoted inCatechism of the Catholic Church,2nd edition (New York: Doubleday, 1995) n. 36, p. 20.
^Barron, Robert (2011).Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith.The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group.ISBN 9780307720511.
^"Ibn Rushd (Averroes)".Archivedfrom the original on 2018-05-09.Retrieved2018-05-09.
^"Quranic Parable".Quran.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-05-09.Retrieved2018-05-09.
^Seeskin, Kenneth."Maimonides".plato.stanford.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-05-26.Retrieved2018-05-14.
^Spinoza, Benedictus de.Ethics.Part 1, Prop. 11.
^Sommer, Josh (2022-03-31)."Philosophy & Preambles of Faith".The Baptist Broadcast.Retrieved2023-10-24.
^Romans 1:20.
^For the proofs of God's existence by Thomas Aquinas seeQuinquae viae.
^2 Timothy 3:14–15NIV"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."The Holy Bible, New International Version.International Bible Society. 1984.
^^a ^bFlew, Antony(1976)."The Presumption of Atheism".The Presumption of Atheism, and other Philosophical Essays on God, Freedom, and Immortality.New York: Barnes and Noble. pp. 14ff. Archived fromthe originalon 2005-10-12.Retrieved2011-12-10.In this interpretation an atheist becomes: not someone who positively asserts the non-existence of God; but someone who is simply not a theist. Let us, for future ready reference, introduce the labels 'positive atheist' for the former and 'negative atheist' for the latter.
^^a ^bMartin, Michael (2006).The Cambridge Companion to Atheism.Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-84270-9.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-05-02.Retrieved2016-01-27.
^^a ^b"Definitions of the term" Atheism "".Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 2007.Archivedfrom the original on 2010-12-06.Retrieved2010-06-01.
^Carroll, Robert (2009-02-22)."agnosticism".The Skeptic's Dictionary.skepdic.Archivedfrom the original on 2009-09-25.Retrieved2009-10-17.
^Cline, Austin."What is Agnosticism?".About.Archivedfrom the original on 2012-04-26.Retrieved2009-01-08.
^"Introduction to Agnosticism: What is Agnostic Theism? Believing in God, but not Knowing God".Atheism.about. 2012-04-13.Archivedfrom the original on 2011-06-05.Retrieved2013-05-14.
^Flint, Robert (1903). "Erroneous Views of Agnosticism".Agnosticism.C. Scribner sons. p.50.Retrieved2009-11-15.agnostic atheism.
^Zdybicka, Zofia J. (2005)."Atheism"(PDF).In Maryniarczyk, Andrzej (ed.).Universal Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Vol. 1. Polish Thomas Aquinas Association. p. 20.Retrieved2010-05-04.
^"The Argument From Non-Cognitivism".Archivedfrom the original on 2014-04-29.Retrieved2008-02-11.
^"isms of the week: Agnosticism and Ignosticism".The Economist.2010-07-28.Archivedfrom the original on December 16, 2011.RetrievedDecember 19,2011.
^Spitzer, Robert J. (2010).New proofs for the existence of God: contributions of contemporary physics and philosophy.Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Pub. p. 73.ISBN 978-0-8028-6383-6.OCLC 466359148.
^Stenger, Victor J. (2007).God: the failed hypothesis: how science shows that God does not exist.Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. p. 43.ISBN 978-1-59102-481-1.OCLC 72988016.
^Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 47; cf. Canons of the First Vatican Council, 2:2.
^Scott C. Todd, "A View from Kansas on that Evolution Debate," Nature, Vol. 401, Sep. 30, 1999, p. 423.
^Polkinghorne, John(1998).Belief in God in an Age of Science.Yale University Press.ISBN 978-0-300-07294-5.
^Plantinga, Alvin.Other Minds: A Study of the Rational Justification of Belief in God,Cornell (1990)ISBN 0-8014-9735-3andWarranted Christian Belief,Oxford University Press (2000),ISBN 0-19-513193-2.
^"Debate the Existence of God – Beale v Howson".starcourse.org.Retrieved2023-11-16.
^See e.g.The Probability of GodbyStephen D. Unwinits criticism inThe God Delusion,and the critical comment in that article.
^"iep.utm.edu".iep.utm.edu. 2004-08-30.Archivedfrom the original on 2013-05-12.Retrieved2013-05-14.
^Klostermaier, Klaus K. (2007).A survey of Hinduism.Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. p.357.ISBN 978-0-7914-7081-7.
^Sudesh Narang (1984),The Vaisnava Philosophy According to Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa,p. 30.
^Ekstrand, Maria; Bryant, Edwin H. (2004).The Hare Krishna movement: the postcharismatic fate of a religious transplant.New York:Columbia University Press.p.7.ISBN 978-0-231-12256-6.
^^a ^bAquinas, Thomas (1274).Summa Theologica.Part 1, Question 2, Article 3.Archivedfrom the original on 2012-06-15.Retrieved2012-06-20.
^Aquinas, Thomas; Kreeft, Peter (1990).Summa of the Summa.Ignatius Press. pp. 65–69.ISBN 9780898703009.
^Davies, Brian (1992).The Thought of Thomas Aquinas.Oxford University Press. p. 26.ISBN 9780191520440.
^Craig, William Lane (October 2001).The Cosmological Argument From Plato to Leibniz.Eugene, Oregon:Wipf and Stock Publishers.pp. x.ISBN 1-57910-787-7.
^Craig, William Lane."The Existence of God and the Beginning of the Universe".Truth Journal.Leaderu.Archivedfrom the original on 23 January 2013.Retrieved22 June2008.
^^a ^bNolan, Lawrence."Descartes' Ontological Argument".Stanford.Archivedfrom the original on 2012-05-13.Retrieved2012-06-20.
^Aquinas, Thomas (1274).Summa Theologica.Part 1, Question 2.Archivedfrom the original on 2012-06-15.Retrieved2012-06-20.
^Kreeft, Peter (2009).Socrates Meets Kant.Ignatius Press.ISBN 9781586173487.
^Himma, Kenneth Einar (27 April 2005)."Ontological Argument".Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Archivedfrom the original on 27 October 2012.RetrievedOctober 12,2011.
^"Plantinga 'The Ontological Argument' Text".Mind.ucsd.edu. Archived fromthe originalon 2013-03-14.Retrieved2013-05-14.
^In: Wang, Hao.A Logical Journey: From Gödel to Philosophy.A Bradford Book, 1997. Print. p.316.
^Gödel's proof is reprinted on p.403-404,429-437 of:Kurt Gödel (Mar 1995). Solomon Feferman and John W. Dawson jr. and Warren Goldfarb and Charles Parsons and Robert M. Solovay (ed.).Unpublished Essays and Lectures(PDF).Collected Works. Vol. III (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-507255-3.
^Robert C. Koons(Jul 2005).Sobel on Gödel's Ontological Proof(PDF)(Unpublished Paper). University of Texas at Austin. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2020-08-02.
^The presentation below follows that in Koons (2005),^[50]p.3-7.
^Fitting, 2002, p. 139
^Oppy, Graham (2006).Arguing about Gods.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 49.ISBN 978-1-139-45889-4.
^"The Ontological Argument".qcc.cuny.edu.Retrieved2022-03-09.
^Szatkowski, Miroslaw (2012).Ontological Proofs Today.Frankfurt: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 28, 150.ISBN 978-3-86838-181-8.
^Szatkowski, Miroslaw (2013).Ontological Proofs Today.Piscataway, NJ: Walter de Gruyter. p. 27.ISBN 978-3-11-032588-1.
^"trademark argument".The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy.RetrievedMay 2,2023.
^Gary Cox(2013).The God Confusion – Why Nobody Knows the Answer to the Ultimate Question.Bloomsbury Publishing.p. 61.ISBN 9781623569808.This has come to be known as the trademark argument as it claims that each person's idea of God is the trademark, hallmark or stamp of their divine creator
^Plantinga 1965;Plantinga 1977,ch. 4.
^Plantinga, Alvin (6 December 2012). Tomberlin, H.; Tomberlin, James E.; van Inwagen, P. (eds.).Alvin Plantinga "Self Profile".Springer Netherlands. pp. 33, 38.ISBN 9789400952232.
^"Evil and Omnipotence".Mind.64(210): 455–465.
^Plantinga 1977,p. 12-17, ch. 4.
^Plantinga 1977,p. 23-25, ch. 4.
^"Logical Problem of Evil".Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
^Plantinga 1977,p. 17, ch. 4.
^Plantinga 1977,p. 27, ch. 4.
^Plantinga 1977,p. 34, ch. 4.
^Howard-Snyder & O'Leary-Hawthorne 1998,p. 1: "It used to be widely held by philosophers that God and evil are incompatible. Not any longer. Alvin Plantinga's Free Will Defense is largely responsible for this shift."
^Meister 2009,p. 134: "Most philosophers have agreed that the free will defense has defeated the logical problem of evil.... Because of [Plantinga's argument], it is now widely accepted that the logical problem of evil has been sufficiently rebutted."
^^a ^bCraig, William Lane."The Problem of Evil".Reasonable Faith.Retrieved27 April2019.Therefore, I'm very pleased to be able to report that it is widely agreed among contemporary philosophers that the logical problem of evil has been dissolved. The co-existence of God and evil is logically possible.
^Alston 1991,p. 49;Peterson et al. 1991,p. 133.
^Bergmann 1999;LaFollette 1980;Howard-Snyder & O'Leary-Hawthorne 1998.
^Inati 2014,p. 28.
^^a ^bAdamson 2016,p. 126.
^Rizvi 2009.
^^a ^bAdamson 2013,p. 170.
^Adamson 2013,p. 171.
^Mayer 2001,pp. 18–19.
^"teleological argument".Oxford English Dictionary.Archived fromthe originalon December 20, 2016.
^"Teleological Arguments for God's Existence".Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.June 10, 2005.RetrievedAugust 10,2024.
^Ayala, Francisco J.2006. "The Blasphemy of Intelligent Design".History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences28(3):409–21.JSTOR 23334140.(review ofCreationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design): "The argument from design to demonstrate God's existence, now called the 'Intelligent Design' argument (ID) is a two-tined argument. The first prong asserts that the universe, humans, as well as all sorts of organisms, in their wholes, in their parts, and in their relations to one another and to their environment, appear to have been designed for serving certain functions and for certain ways of life. The second prong of the argument is that only an omnipotent Creator could account for the perfection and purposeful design of the universe and everything in it."
^"The Argument from Design".Princeton University.Archived fromthe originalon 2019-07-16.
^"Intelligent Design".Intelligent Design.Archivedfrom the original on 2013-05-15.Retrieved2013-05-14.
^^a ^bAhbel-Rappe, Sara, and R. Kamtekar. 2009.A Companion to Socrates.John Wiley & Sons.p. 45. "Xenophonattributes toSocrateswhat is probably the earliest knownnatural theology,an argument for the existence of the gods from observations of design in the physical world. "
^Sedley (2007:86) agrees, and cites other recent commentators who agree, and argues in detail that the argument reported byXenophonandPlatois "at any rate the antecedent" of the argument from design (p. 213). He shows that theStoicsfrequently paraphrased the account given by Xenophon.
^Sedley 2007, p. xvii.
^Derham, William.1713.Physico-Theology.
^"Design".Oxford English Dictionary,substantive number 4.
^Manning, Russell Re. 2013. "Introduction".Pp. 1–9 inThe Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology.Oxford:Oxford University Press.p. 3,for example: "Between them, so the story goes, Hume, Darwin and Barth pulled the rug out from underneath the pretensions of natural theology to any philosophical, scientific, or theological legitimacy."
^Scott, Eugenie C.2007. "Biological design in science classrooms".Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences104(suppl. 1):8669–76.doi:10.1073/pnas.0701505104.PMID 17494747.PMC 1876445.
^Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District,04 cv 2688 (December 20, 2005) ( "the writings of leading ID proponents reveal that the designer postulated by their argument is the God of Christianity" ).,Ruling p. 26.A selection of writings and quotes of intelligent design supporters demonstrating this identification of the Christian god with the intelligent designer are found in the pdfHorse's Mouth ArchivedJune 27, 2008, at theWayback Machine(PDF) by Brian Poindexter, dated 2003.
^Harrison, Peter; Roberts, Jon H. (2019).Science without God? rethinking the history of scientific naturalism(First ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.ISBN 9780198834588.
^"Experiences of 'Ultimate Reality' or 'God' Confer Lasting Benefits to Mental Health".hopkinsmedicine.org.
^Wade, Grace."Religious leaders given psilocybin say they" felt God "".New Scientist.
^Webb, Mark (2022)."Religious Experience".The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
^Stewart, Melville Y. (2010).Science and Religion in Dialogue.Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.ISBN 9781405189217.
^"Stephen Edelston Toulmin".Encyclopædia Britannica.Archivedfrom the original on 14 July 2014.Retrieved16 June2014.
^Hinman, Joseph (2014-05-28).The Trace of God: A Rational Warrant for Belief(1 ed.). GrandViaduct.ISBN 978-0-9824087-1-1.
^Hinman, Joseph (11 July 2010)."On Rational Warrant".Metacrock.Archivedfrom the original on 2014-07-14.Retrieved2014-06-13.
^Hinman, Joseph (2014-05-28).The Trace of God: A Rational Warrant for Belief(1 ed.). GrandViaduct. pp. 85–92.ISBN 978-0-9824087-1-1.
^Hinman, Joseph (2014-05-28).The Trace of God: A Rational Warrant for Belief(1 ed.). GrandViaduct. pp. 90–92.ISBN 978-0-9824087-1-1.
^Hinman, Joseph (2014-05-28).The Trace of God: A Rational Warrant for Belief(1 ed.). GrandViaduct. pp. 100–103.ISBN 978-0-9824087-1-1.
^Hinman, Joseph (2014-05-28).The Trace of God: A Rational Warrant for Belief(1 ed.). GrandViaduct. pp. 104–105.ISBN 978-0-9824087-1-1.
^(Stuttgart, 1908).
^"Henological argument".
^Blackburn, Simon (1996-05-23). "Degrees of perfection argument".Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy.Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-283134-8.
^The term "argument from desire" was coined by John Beversluis in his 1985 bookC. S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
^"Argument from Desire by Peter Kreeft".
^"Francis S. Collins on C. S. Lewis' Moral Argument".
^Lewis, C. S. "10".Mere Christianity, Bk. III.
^Ruloff, Colin; Horban, Peter (2021).Contemporary arguments in natural theology: God and rational belief.London New York Oxford New Delhi Sydney: Bloomsbury Academic.ISBN 9781350093850.
^Marty, Elsa J. (2010-08-19).A Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion.Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 154.ISBN 9781441111975.Retrieved2 December2012.C.S. Lewis offered a popularized version of such an argument in a series of talks for the BBC during World War II, later published in hisMere ChristianityLewis argued that conscience reveals to us a moral law whose source cannot be found in the natural world, thus pointing to a supernatural Lawgiver.
^Allison, Gregg (2011-03-29).Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine.Zondervan. p. 207.ISBN 9780310230137.Retrieved2 December2012.In his highly influential book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis revived the moral argument for the existence of God. By moving from the fact of human quarrels and the moral law that these presuppose, to the reality of God as the moral Lawgiver whose law people break, Lewis set forth a foundation not only for the existence of God, but for the message that "the Christians are talking about.... The tell you how the demands of this law, which you and I cannot meet, have been met on our behalf, how God himself becomes a man to save a man from the disapproval of God."
^Michael Martin(1997)."Does Induction Presume the Existence of the Christian God?".Infidels.Retrieved21 April2011.But what about The Transcendental Argument for the Existence of God (TAG)--the argument that logic, science, and objective ethical standards presuppose the existence of God?
^Martin, Michael (1997). "Does Induction Presuppose the Existence of the Christian God?".Skeptic.5(2): 71–75.
^^a ^b ^cLee, Robert Sloan (July 1, 2021). "Non-Standard Arguments for God's existence". In Branson, Beau (ed.).Introduction to Philosophy: Philosophy of Religion.Rebus Community.ISBN 9781989014233.
^Swinburne, Richard(1996).Is There a God?.Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-823545-3.
^"Islamic Awareness: The Challenge of the Qur'an".Archivedfrom the original on 2016-09-12.Retrieved2016-08-28.
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^Greco, John (26 June 2013).God and the Gods: A Compelling Investigation and Personal Quest for the Truth About God of the Bible and the Gods of Ancient History.iUniverse. pp. 134–.ISBN 978-1-4759-9597-8.
^Polkinghorne, John.Science and Christian Belief.pp. 108–122.
^"Based on our real life experiences we clearly know that it was God, the Supreme Soul, Shiva, Himself, had entered into his body. It was God who had revealed the truth about the coming destruction, and of the establishment of the heavenly world which would then follow. And it was God Himself who had given the sign that he, Dada, was to be His medium and the engine for creating such a divine world.""Divine Descent of God".Archived fromthe originalon July 25, 2011.RetrievedMarch 6,2011.
^Babb, Lawrence A. (1987). Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society). Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-7069-2563-7.
^Ghazali, Abu Hamid (1100).Deliverance from Error.Archivedfrom the original on 2016-08-25.Retrieved2016-08-28.
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^(A. Stöckl,Geschichte der neueren Philosophie,II, 82 sqq.)
^(Stöckl, loc. cit., 199 sqq.)
^Reichenbach, Bruce R. (April 1989)."Karma, causation, and divine intervention".Philosophy East and West.39(2): 135–149 [145].doi:10.2307/1399374.ISSN 0031-8221.JSTOR 1399374.Archived fromthe originalon 2009-10-27.Retrieved2009-12-29.
^Alvin Plantinga,Warrant and Proper Function.
^Alvin Plantinga,Warranted Christian Belief.
^Richard Swinburne,The Coherence of Theism.
^This argument is articulated by Vern Poythress in chapter 1 of Redeeming Science, pp. 13–31. Available:http:// frame-poythress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PoythressVernRedeemingScience.pdf#page=14 Archived2012-11-14 at theWayback Machine
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^Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow,The Grand Design,p. 172.
^Geftner, Amanda."Concept of 'hypercosmic God' wins Templeton Prize".New Scientist.Retrieved2023-11-16.
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^Epicurus. "Letter to Menoeceus." Translated by Robert Drew Hicks.
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^Aquinas, Thomas. "Summa Theologica." Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province.
^Craig, William Lane. "The Coherence of Theism." Routledge.
^Kane, Robert. "Free Will." The Oxford Handbook of Free Will.
^Plantinga, Alvin. "God and Other Minds." Cornell University Press.
^Oppy, Graham. "Ontological Arguments and Belief in God." Cambridge University Press.
^Hoffman, Joshua; Rosenkrantz, Gary (2022),"Omnipotence",in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.),The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy(Spring 2022 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University,retrieved2023-11-16
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^Adams, Marilyn McCord. "Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God." Cornell University Press, 1999.
^Plantinga, Alvin. "God, Freedom, and Evil." Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1977.
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^Hasker, William. "Divine Immutability." In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta.
^Morris, Thomas V.Our Idea of God: An Introduction to Philosophical Theology.Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2000.
^Moltmann, Jürgen. God in Creation: A New Theology of Creation and the Spirit of God. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 1985.
^Swinburne, Richard.Providence and the Problem of Evil.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
^Kane, Robert. "Free Will." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta, Spring 2021 ed., plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2021/entries/freewill/.
^Swinburne, Richard. The Coherence of Theism. Clarendon Press, 1993.
^Craig, William Lane. "The Problem Of Hell: A Philosophical Overview." Philosophia Christi 16, no. 1 (2014): 39–54.
^Davis, Stephen T., and Daniel Kendall. "The Problem Of Hell." Theological Studies 75, no. 1 (2014): 3–22.
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^Taliaferro, Charles. "The Problem Of Hell Reconsidered." Religious Studies 47, no. 1 (2011): 73–87.
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^Martin, Michael.Atheism: A Philosophical Justification.Temple University Press, 1992.
^^a ^bOppy, Graham.Arguing about Gods.Cambridge University Press, 2006.
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^Smith, Quentin.Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology.Clarendon Press, 1993.
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^Camus, Albert.The Myth of Sisyphus.Vintage International, 1991.
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^Solomon, Robert C., and Kathleen M. Higgins, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Death. Oxford University Press, 2013.
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Lectures

Hegel,Lectures on the Proofs of the Existence of God

External links

A Collection of Arguments for the Existence of God Archived2017-06-26 at theWayback Machine
Proofs of God's Existence: Islam—Ahmadiyyat(PDF)
The Existence of God—Catholic Encyclopedia
The Classical Islamic Arguments for the Existence of Godby Majid Fakhry
Is There a Creator Who Cares About You?—JW.org

[53] It assumes that it is possible to single outpositiveproperties from among all properties. Gödel comments that "Positive means positive in themoral aestheticsense (independently of the accidental structure of the world)... It may also mean pureattributionas opposed toprivation(or containing privation). "(Gödel 1995), see also manuscript in (Gawlick 2012).

[54] As a profane example, if the property of being green is positive, that of not being red is, too (by axiom 1), hence that of being red is negative (by axiom 2). More generally, at most one color can be considered positive.

[55] Continuing the color example, a godlike object must have the unique color that is considered positive, or no color at all; both alternatives may seem counter-intuitive.

[56] If one considers thepartial order $\preceq$ defined by $\varphi \preceq \psi$ if $\square \forall y(\varphi (y)\to \psi (y))$ ,then Axioms 1-3 can be summarized by saying that positive properties form anultrafilteron this ordering. Definition 1 and Axiom 4 are needed to establish theGodlikeproperty as principal element of the ultrafilter.

[57] By removing all modal operators from axioms, definitions, proofs, and theorems, a modified version of theorem 2 is obtained saying "∃xG(x) ", i.e." There exists an object which has all positive, but no negative properties ". Nothing more than axioms 1-3, definition 1, and theorems 1-2 needs to be considered for this result.

[1] The Rationality of TheismquotingQuentin Smith"God is not 'dead' in academia; it returned to life in the late 1960s". They cite "the shift from hostility towards theism in Paul Edwards'sEncyclopedia of Philosophy(1967) to sympathy towards theism in the more recentRoutledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

[Draper-2] Draper, Paul (2022)."Atheism and Agnosticism".The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.

[3] Cruz De, Helen; Nichols, Ryan (28 January 2016).Advances in Religion, Cognitive Science, and Experimental Philosophy.Bloomsbury Academic. p. 135.ISBN 978-1-4742-2382-9.

[4] "PhilPapers Survey 2020".PhilPapers.

[5] Dawkins, Richard(2006).The God Delusion.Bantam Books. p.50.ISBN 978-0-618-68000-9.

[6] Vatican Council I,Dei Filius2; quoted inCatechism of the Catholic Church,2nd edition (New York: Doubleday, 1995) n. 36, p. 20.

[7] Barron, Robert (2011).Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith.The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group.ISBN 9780307720511.

[8] "Ibn Rushd (Averroes)".Archivedfrom the original on 2018-05-09.Retrieved2018-05-09.

[9] "Quranic Parable".Quran.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-05-09.Retrieved2018-05-09.

[10] Seeskin, Kenneth."Maimonides".plato.stanford.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-05-26.Retrieved2018-05-14.

[11] Spinoza, Benedictus de.Ethics.Part 1, Prop. 11.

[12] Sommer, Josh (2022-03-31)."Philosophy & Preambles of Faith".The Baptist Broadcast.Retrieved2023-10-24.

[13] Romans 1:20.

[14] For the proofs of God's existence by Thomas Aquinas seeQuinquae viae.

[15] 2 Timothy 3:14–15NIV"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."The Holy Bible, New International Version.International Bible Society. 1984.

[Flew1976-16] Flew, Antony(1976)."The Presumption of Atheism".The Presumption of Atheism, and other Philosophical Essays on God, Freedom, and Immortality.New York: Barnes and Noble. pp. 14ff. Archived fromthe originalon 2005-10-12.Retrieved2011-12-10.In this interpretation an atheist becomes: not someone who positively asserts the non-existence of God; but someone who is simply not a theist. Let us, for future ready reference, introduce the labels 'positive atheist' for the former and 'negative atheist' for the latter.

[mmartin-17] Martin, Michael (2006).The Cambridge Companion to Atheism.Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-84270-9.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-05-02.Retrieved2016-01-27.

[synonyms-18] "Definitions of the term" Atheism "".Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 2007.Archivedfrom the original on 2010-12-06.Retrieved2010-06-01.

[19] Carroll, Robert (2009-02-22)."agnosticism".The Skeptic's Dictionary.skepdic.Archivedfrom the original on 2009-09-25.Retrieved2009-10-17.

[Agnostic_Types-20] Cline, Austin."What is Agnosticism?".About.Archivedfrom the original on 2012-04-26.Retrieved2009-01-08.

[about-21] "Introduction to Agnosticism: What is Agnostic Theism? Believing in God, but not Knowing God".Atheism.about. 2012-04-13.Archivedfrom the original on 2011-06-05.Retrieved2013-05-14.

[22] Flint, Robert (1903). "Erroneous Views of Agnosticism".Agnosticism.C. Scribner sons. p.50.Retrieved2009-11-15.agnostic atheism.

[Zdybicka-p20-23] Zdybicka, Zofia J. (2005)."Atheism"(PDF).In Maryniarczyk, Andrzej (ed.).Universal Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Vol. 1. Polish Thomas Aquinas Association. p. 20.Retrieved2010-05-04.

[The_Argument_From_Non-Cognitivism-24] "The Argument From Non-Cognitivism".Archivedfrom the original on 2014-04-29.Retrieved2008-02-11.

[25] "isms of the week: Agnosticism and Ignosticism".The Economist.2010-07-28.Archivedfrom the original on December 16, 2011.RetrievedDecember 19,2011.

[26] Spitzer, Robert J. (2010).New proofs for the existence of God: contributions of contemporary physics and philosophy.Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Pub. p. 73.ISBN 978-0-8028-6383-6.OCLC 466359148.

[27] Stenger, Victor J. (2007).God: the failed hypothesis: how science shows that God does not exist.Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. p. 43.ISBN 978-1-59102-481-1.OCLC 72988016.

[28] Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 47; cf. Canons of the First Vatican Council, 2:2.

[29] Scott C. Todd, "A View from Kansas on that Evolution Debate," Nature, Vol. 401, Sep. 30, 1999, p. 423.

[30] Polkinghorne, John(1998).Belief in God in an Age of Science.Yale University Press.ISBN 978-0-300-07294-5.

[31] Plantinga, Alvin.Other Minds: A Study of the Rational Justification of Belief in God,Cornell (1990)ISBN 0-8014-9735-3andWarranted Christian Belief,Oxford University Press (2000),ISBN 0-19-513193-2.

[32] "Debate the Existence of God – Beale v Howson".starcourse.org.Retrieved2023-11-16.

[33] See e.g.The Probability of GodbyStephen D. Unwinits criticism inThe God Delusion,and the critical comment in that article.

[34] "iep.utm.edu".iep.utm.edu. 2004-08-30.Archivedfrom the original on 2013-05-12.Retrieved2013-05-14.

[isbn0-7914-7081-4-35] Klostermaier, Klaus K. (2007).A survey of Hinduism.Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. p.357.ISBN 978-0-7914-7081-7.

[36] Sudesh Narang (1984),The Vaisnava Philosophy According to Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa,p. 30.

[isbn0-231-12256-X-37] Ekstrand, Maria; Bryant, Edwin H. (2004).The Hare Krishna movement: the postcharismatic fate of a religious transplant.New York:Columbia University Press.p.7.ISBN 978-0-231-12256-6.

[Aquinas_1274-38] Aquinas, Thomas (1274).Summa Theologica.Part 1, Question 2, Article 3.Archivedfrom the original on 2012-06-15.Retrieved2012-06-20.

[39] Aquinas, Thomas; Kreeft, Peter (1990).Summa of the Summa.Ignatius Press. pp. 65–69.ISBN 9780898703009.

[40] Davies, Brian (1992).The Thought of Thomas Aquinas.Oxford University Press. p. 26.ISBN 9780191520440.

[41] Craig, William Lane (October 2001).The Cosmological Argument From Plato to Leibniz.Eugene, Oregon:Wipf and Stock Publishers.pp. x.ISBN 1-57910-787-7.

[42] Craig, William Lane."The Existence of God and the Beginning of the Universe".Truth Journal.Leaderu.Archivedfrom the original on 23 January 2013.Retrieved22 June2008.

[Nolan-43] Nolan, Lawrence."Descartes' Ontological Argument".Stanford.Archivedfrom the original on 2012-05-13.Retrieved2012-06-20.

[44] Aquinas, Thomas (1274).Summa Theologica.Part 1, Question 2.Archivedfrom the original on 2012-06-15.Retrieved2012-06-20.

[45] Kreeft, Peter (2009).Socrates Meets Kant.Ignatius Press.ISBN 9781586173487.

[46] Himma, Kenneth Einar (27 April 2005)."Ontological Argument".Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Archivedfrom the original on 27 October 2012.RetrievedOctober 12,2011.

[47] "Plantinga 'The Ontological Argument' Text".Mind.ucsd.edu. Archived fromthe originalon 2013-03-14.Retrieved2013-05-14.

[48] In: Wang, Hao.A Logical Journey: From Gödel to Philosophy.A Bradford Book, 1997. Print. p.316.

[49] Gödel's proof is reprinted on p.403-404,429-437 of:Kurt Gödel (Mar 1995). Solomon Feferman and John W. Dawson jr. and Warren Goldfarb and Charles Parsons and Robert M. Solovay (ed.).Unpublished Essays and Lectures(PDF).Collected Works. Vol. III (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-507255-3.

[Koons.2005-50] Robert C. Koons(Jul 2005).Sobel on Gödel's Ontological Proof(PDF)(Unpublished Paper). University of Texas at Austin. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2020-08-02.

[51] The presentation below follows that in Koons (2005),^[50]p.3-7.

[52] Fitting, 2002, p. 139

[58] Oppy, Graham (2006).Arguing about Gods.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 49.ISBN 978-1-139-45889-4.

[59] "The Ontological Argument".qcc.cuny.edu.Retrieved2022-03-09.

[Meinongian_argument_:2-60] Szatkowski, Miroslaw (2012).Ontological Proofs Today.Frankfurt: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 28, 150.ISBN 978-3-86838-181-8.

[61] Szatkowski, Miroslaw (2013).Ontological Proofs Today.Piscataway, NJ: Walter de Gruyter. p. 27.ISBN 978-3-11-032588-1.

[62] "trademark argument".The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy.RetrievedMay 2,2023.

[63] Gary Cox(2013).The God Confusion – Why Nobody Knows the Answer to the Ultimate Question.Bloomsbury Publishing.p. 61.ISBN 9781623569808.This has come to be known as the trademark argument as it claims that each person's idea of God is the trademark, hallmark or stamp of their divine creator

[FOOTNOTEPlantinga1965Plantinga1977ch.&nbsp;4-64] Plantinga 1965;Plantinga 1977,ch. 4.

[Alvin_Plantinga's_free-will_defense_Self_profile-65] Plantinga, Alvin (6 December 2012). Tomberlin, H.; Tomberlin, James E.; van Inwagen, P. (eds.).Alvin Plantinga "Self Profile".Springer Netherlands. pp. 33, 38.ISBN 9789400952232.

[66] "Evil and Omnipotence".Mind.64(210): 455–465.

[FOOTNOTEPlantinga197712-17ch.&nbsp;4-67] Plantinga 1977,p. 12-17, ch. 4.

[FOOTNOTEPlantinga197723-25ch.&nbsp;4-68] Plantinga 1977,p. 23-25, ch. 4.

[69] "Logical Problem of Evil".Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

[FOOTNOTEPlantinga197717ch.&nbsp;4-70] Plantinga 1977,p. 17, ch. 4.

[FOOTNOTEPlantinga197727ch.&nbsp;4-71] Plantinga 1977,p. 27, ch. 4.

[FOOTNOTEPlantinga197734ch.&nbsp;4-72] Plantinga 1977,p. 34, ch. 4.

[Howard-Snyder-73] Howard-Snyder & O'Leary-Hawthorne 1998,p. 1: "It used to be widely held by philosophers that God and evil are incompatible. Not any longer. Alvin Plantinga's Free Will Defense is largely responsible for this shift."

[74] Meister 2009,p. 134: "Most philosophers have agreed that the free will defense has defeated the logical problem of evil.... Because of [Plantinga's argument], it is now widely accepted that the logical problem of evil has been sufficiently rebutted."

[:1-75] Craig, William Lane."The Problem of Evil".Reasonable Faith.Retrieved27 April2019.Therefore, I'm very pleased to be able to report that it is widely agreed among contemporary philosophers that the logical problem of evil has been dissolved. The co-existence of God and evil is logically possible.

[FOOTNOTEAlston199149PetersonHaskerReichenbachBasinger1991133-76] Alston 1991,p. 49;Peterson et al. 1991,p. 133.

[FOOTNOTEBergmann1999LaFollette1980Howard-SnyderO'Leary-Hawthorne1998-77] Bergmann 1999;LaFollette 1980;Howard-Snyder & O'Leary-Hawthorne 1998.

[FOOTNOTEInati201428-78] Inati 2014,p. 28.

[FOOTNOTEAdamson2016126-79] Adamson 2016,p. 126.

[FOOTNOTERizvi2009-80] Rizvi 2009.

[FOOTNOTEAdamson2013170-81] Adamson 2013,p. 170.

[FOOTNOTEAdamson2013171-82] Adamson 2013,p. 171.

[FOOTNOTEMayer200118–19-83] Mayer 2001,pp. 18–19.

[84] "teleological argument".Oxford English Dictionary.Archived fromthe originalon December 20, 2016.

[85] "Teleological Arguments for God's Existence".Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.June 10, 2005.RetrievedAugust 10,2024.

[86] Ayala, Francisco J.2006. "The Blasphemy of Intelligent Design".History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences28(3):409–21.JSTOR 23334140.(review ofCreationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design): "The argument from design to demonstrate God's existence, now called the 'Intelligent Design' argument (ID) is a two-tined argument. The first prong asserts that the universe, humans, as well as all sorts of organisms, in their wholes, in their parts, and in their relations to one another and to their environment, appear to have been designed for serving certain functions and for certain ways of life. The second prong of the argument is that only an omnipotent Creator could account for the perfection and purposeful design of the universe and everything in it."

[87] "The Argument from Design".Princeton University.Archived fromthe originalon 2019-07-16.

[88] "Intelligent Design".Intelligent Design.Archivedfrom the original on 2013-05-15.Retrieved2013-05-14.

[Teleological_argument_comp-89] Ahbel-Rappe, Sara, and R. Kamtekar. 2009.A Companion to Socrates.John Wiley & Sons.p. 45. "Xenophonattributes toSocrateswhat is probably the earliest knownnatural theology,an argument for the existence of the gods from observations of design in the physical world. "

[90] Sedley (2007:86) agrees, and cites other recent commentators who agree, and argues in detail that the argument reported byXenophonandPlatois "at any rate the antecedent" of the argument from design (p. 213). He shows that theStoicsfrequently paraphrased the account given by Xenophon.

[Teleological_argument_Sedley_2007,_page_xvii-91] Sedley 2007, p. xvii.

[92] Derham, William.1713.Physico-Theology.

[Teleological_argument_Oxford_English_Dictionary-93] "Design".Oxford English Dictionary,substantive number 4.

[94] Manning, Russell Re. 2013. "Introduction".Pp. 1–9 inThe Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology.Oxford:Oxford University Press.p. 3,for example: "Between them, so the story goes, Hume, Darwin and Barth pulled the rug out from underneath the pretensions of natural theology to any philosophical, scientific, or theological legitimacy."

[Teleological_argument_SM_07-95] Scott, Eugenie C.2007. "Biological design in science classrooms".Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences104(suppl. 1):8669–76.doi:10.1073/pnas.0701505104.PMID 17494747.PMC 1876445.

[96] Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District,04 cv 2688 (December 20, 2005) ( "the writings of leading ID proponents reveal that the designer postulated by their argument is the God of Christianity" ).,Ruling p. 26.A selection of writings and quotes of intelligent design supporters demonstrating this identification of the Christian god with the intelligent designer are found in the pdfHorse's Mouth ArchivedJune 27, 2008, at theWayback Machine(PDF) by Brian Poindexter, dated 2003.

[97] Harrison, Peter; Roberts, Jon H. (2019).Science without God? rethinking the history of scientific naturalism(First ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.ISBN 9780198834588.

[98] "Experiences of 'Ultimate Reality' or 'God' Confer Lasting Benefits to Mental Health".hopkinsmedicine.org.

[99] Wade, Grace."Religious leaders given psilocybin say they" felt God "".New Scientist.

[100] Webb, Mark (2022)."Religious Experience".The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.

[101] Stewart, Melville Y. (2010).Science and Religion in Dialogue.Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.ISBN 9781405189217.

[102] "Stephen Edelston Toulmin".Encyclopædia Britannica.Archivedfrom the original on 14 July 2014.Retrieved16 June2014.

[103] Hinman, Joseph (2014-05-28).The Trace of God: A Rational Warrant for Belief(1 ed.). GrandViaduct.ISBN 978-0-9824087-1-1.

[104] Hinman, Joseph (11 July 2010)."On Rational Warrant".Metacrock.Archivedfrom the original on 2014-07-14.Retrieved2014-06-13.

[105] Hinman, Joseph (2014-05-28).The Trace of God: A Rational Warrant for Belief(1 ed.). GrandViaduct. pp. 85–92.ISBN 978-0-9824087-1-1.

[106] Hinman, Joseph (2014-05-28).The Trace of God: A Rational Warrant for Belief(1 ed.). GrandViaduct. pp. 90–92.ISBN 978-0-9824087-1-1.

[107] Hinman, Joseph (2014-05-28).The Trace of God: A Rational Warrant for Belief(1 ed.). GrandViaduct. pp. 100–103.ISBN 978-0-9824087-1-1.

[108] Hinman, Joseph (2014-05-28).The Trace of God: A Rational Warrant for Belief(1 ed.). GrandViaduct. pp. 104–105.ISBN 978-0-9824087-1-1.

[109] (Stuttgart, 1908).

[110] "Henological argument".

[111] Blackburn, Simon (1996-05-23). "Degrees of perfection argument".Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy.Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-283134-8.

[112] The term "argument from desire" was coined by John Beversluis in his 1985 bookC. S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).

[113] "Argument from Desire by Peter Kreeft".

[114] "Francis S. Collins on C. S. Lewis' Moral Argument".

[115] Lewis, C. S. "10".Mere Christianity, Bk. III.

[116] Ruloff, Colin; Horban, Peter (2021).Contemporary arguments in natural theology: God and rational belief.London New York Oxford New Delhi Sydney: Bloomsbury Academic.ISBN 9781350093850.

[Argument_from_morality_Marty2010-117] Marty, Elsa J. (2010-08-19).A Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion.Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 154.ISBN 9781441111975.Retrieved2 December2012.C.S. Lewis offered a popularized version of such an argument in a series of talks for the BBC during World War II, later published in hisMere ChristianityLewis argued that conscience reveals to us a moral law whose source cannot be found in the natural world, thus pointing to a supernatural Lawgiver.

[Argument_from_morality_Allison2011-118] Allison, Gregg (2011-03-29).Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine.Zondervan. p. 207.ISBN 9780310230137.Retrieved2 December2012.In his highly influential book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis revived the moral argument for the existence of God. By moving from the fact of human quarrels and the moral law that these presuppose, to the reality of God as the moral Lawgiver whose law people break, Lewis set forth a foundation not only for the existence of God, but for the message that "the Christians are talking about.... The tell you how the demands of this law, which you and I cannot meet, have been met on our behalf, how God himself becomes a man to save a man from the disapproval of God."

[119] Michael Martin(1997)."Does Induction Presume the Existence of the Christian God?".Infidels.Retrieved21 April2011.But what about The Transcendental Argument for the Existence of God (TAG)--the argument that logic, science, and objective ethical standards presuppose the existence of God?

[Transcendental_argument_for_the_existence_of_God_Martin-120] Martin, Michael (1997). "Does Induction Presuppose the Existence of the Christian God?".Skeptic.5(2): 71–75.

[lee-121] Lee, Robert Sloan (July 1, 2021). "Non-Standard Arguments for God's existence". In Branson, Beau (ed.).Introduction to Philosophy: Philosophy of Religion.Rebus Community.ISBN 9781989014233.

[122] Swinburne, Richard(1996).Is There a God?.Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-823545-3.

[123] "Islamic Awareness: The Challenge of the Qur'an".Archivedfrom the original on 2016-09-12.Retrieved2016-08-28.

[124] "The Inimitability of the Qur'an".Archived fromthe originalon 2016-09-22.Retrieved2016-08-28.

[Greco2013-125] Greco, John (26 June 2013).God and the Gods: A Compelling Investigation and Personal Quest for the Truth About God of the Bible and the Gods of Ancient History.iUniverse. pp. 134–.ISBN 978-1-4759-9597-8.

[126] Polkinghorne, John.Science and Christian Belief.pp. 108–122.

[127] "Based on our real life experiences we clearly know that it was God, the Supreme Soul, Shiva, Himself, had entered into his body. It was God who had revealed the truth about the coming destruction, and of the establishment of the heavenly world which would then follow. And it was God Himself who had given the sign that he, Dada, was to be His medium and the engine for creating such a divine world.""Divine Descent of God".Archived fromthe originalon July 25, 2011.RetrievedMarch 6,2011.

[128] Babb, Lawrence A. (1987). Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society). Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-7069-2563-7.

[Ghazali_1100-129] Ghazali, Abu Hamid (1100).Deliverance from Error.Archivedfrom the original on 2016-08-25.Retrieved2016-08-28.

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[131] (A. Stöckl,Geschichte der neueren Philosophie,II, 82 sqq.)

[132] (Stöckl, loc. cit., 199 sqq.)

[133] Reichenbach, Bruce R. (April 1989)."Karma, causation, and divine intervention".Philosophy East and West.39(2): 135–149 [145].doi:10.2307/1399374.ISSN 0031-8221.JSTOR 1399374.Archived fromthe originalon 2009-10-27.Retrieved2009-12-29.

[134] Alvin Plantinga,Warrant and Proper Function.

[135] Alvin Plantinga,Warranted Christian Belief.

[136] Richard Swinburne,The Coherence of Theism.

[137] This argument is articulated by Vern Poythress in chapter 1 of Redeeming Science, pp. 13–31. Available:http:// frame-poythress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/PoythressVernRedeemingScience.pdf#page=14 Archived2012-11-14 at theWayback Machine

[138] Baggini, Julian (2003-08-28).Atheism.Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/actrade/9780192804242.001.0001.ISBN 978-0-19-280424-2.

[139] Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow,The Grand Design,p. 172.

[newscientist.com-140] Geftner, Amanda."Concept of 'hypercosmic God' wins Templeton Prize".New Scientist.Retrieved2023-11-16.

[141] Rowe, William L. "The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism." American Philosophical Quarterly.

[142] Epicurus. "Letter to Menoeceus." Translated by Robert Drew Hicks.

[143] Adams, Marilyn McCord. "The Problem of Evil." The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion.

[144] Aquinas, Thomas. "Summa Theologica." Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province.

[145] Craig, William Lane. "The Coherence of Theism." Routledge.

[146] Kane, Robert. "Free Will." The Oxford Handbook of Free Will.

[147] Plantinga, Alvin. "God and Other Minds." Cornell University Press.

[148] Oppy, Graham. "Ontological Arguments and Belief in God." Cambridge University Press.

[149] Hoffman, Joshua; Rosenkrantz, Gary (2022),"Omnipotence",in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.),The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy(Spring 2022 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University,retrieved2023-11-16

[:0-150] Plato. "Euthyphro." The Collected Dialogues of Plato, edited by Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns, Princeton University Press, 1961.

[151] Adams, Marilyn McCord. "Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God." Cornell University Press, 1999.

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Positions

Theism

Traditional religious definition of God

Non-personal definitions of God

Debate about how theism should be argued

Atheism

Positive atheism

Negative atheism

Agnosticism

Strong agnosticism

Weak agnosticism

Agnostic theism

Agnostic atheism

Apatheism

Ignosticism

Philosophical issues

The problem of the supernatural

Nature of relevant proofs and arguments

Outside of Western thought

Arguments

Arguments for the existence of God

Logical arguments

Aquinas' Five Ways

Cosmological argument

Ontological argument

Gödel's ontological proof

Meinongian argument

Trademark argument

Plantinga's free-will defense

Proof of the Truthful

Empirical arguments

Argument from beauty

Argument from consciousness

Argument from design

Argument from natural laws

Argument from psychedelics

Argument from sensus divinitatis

Rational warrant

Inductive arguments

Metaphysical arguments

Argument from degree

Argument from desire

Argument from love

Argument from mathematics

Argument from morality

Argument from reason

Transcendental argument

Subjective arguments

Argument from religious experience

Arguments from witnesses' testimony

Arguments from historical events

Arguments from the authority of historical personages

Anecdotal arguments

Hindu arguments

Other arguments

Arguments against the existence of God

Logical arguments

Arguments from incompatible divine properties

Empirical arguments

Argument from inconsistent revelations

Argument from parsimony

Argument from historical induction

Argument from nonbelief

Arguments from the poor design of the universe

Subjective arguments

Hindu arguments

Psychological aspects

See also

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

External links