Existence summed up
five main arguments as proofs for God's existence. Painting by
Carlo Crivelli, 1476. '' (1770) argues that belief in God is based on fear, lack of understanding and
anthropomorphism. The existence of God and the nature of God are subjects of debate in
theology,
philosophy of religion and
popular culture. In philosophical terms, the question of the existence of God involves the disciplines of
epistemology (the nature and scope of knowledge) and
ontology (study of the nature of
being or
existence) and the
theory of value (since some definitions of God include "perfection").
Ontological arguments refer to any argument for the existence of God that is based on
a priori reasoning. Notable ontological arguments were formulated by
Anselm and
René Descartes.
Cosmological arguments use concepts around the origin of the universe to argue for the existence of God. The
teleological argument, also called "argument from design", uses the complexity within the universe as a proof of the existence of God. It is countered that the
fine tuning required for a stable universe with life on earth is illusory, as humans are only able to observe the small part of this universe that succeeded in making such observation possible, called the
anthropic principle, and so would not learn of, for example, life on other planets or of
universes that did not occur because of different
laws of physics. Non-theists have argued that complex processes that have natural explanations yet to be discovered are referred to the supernatural, called
god of the gaps. Other theists, such as
John Henry Newman who believed
theistic evolution was acceptable, have also argued against versions of the teleological argument and held that it is limiting of God to view him having to only intervene specially in some instances rather than having complex processes designed to create order. The
argument from beauty states that this universe happens to contain special beauty in it and that there would be no particular reason for this over aesthetic neutrality other than God. This has been countered by pointing to the existence of ugliness in the universe. This has also been countered by arguing that beauty has no objective reality and so the universe could be seen as ugly or that humans have made what is more beautiful than nature. The
argument from morality argues for the existence of God given the assumption of the objective existence of
morals. While prominent non-theistic philosophers such as the atheist
J. L. Mackie agreed that the argument is valid, they disagreed with its premises.
David Hume argued that there is no basis to believe in objective moral truths while biologist
E. O. Wilson theorized that the feelings of morality are a by-product of natural selection in humans and would not exist independent of the mind. Philosopher
Michael Lou Martin argued that a subjective account for morality can be acceptable. Similar to the argument from morality is the
argument from conscience which argues for the existence of God given the existence of a conscience that informs of right and wrong, even against prevailing moral codes. Philosopher
John Locke instead argued that conscience is a social construct and thus could lead to contradicting morals.
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of
belief in the existence of deities.
Agnosticism is the view that the
truth values of certain claims—especially
metaphysical and religious claims such as
whether God, the
divine or the
supernatural exist—are unknown and perhaps unknowable.
Theism generally holds that God exists objectively and independently of human thought and is sometimes used to refer to any belief in God or gods. Some view the existence of God as an empirical question.
Richard Dawkins states that "a universe with a god would be a completely different kind of universe from one without, and it would be a scientific difference".
Carl Sagan argued that the doctrine of a Creator of the Universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could disprove the existence of a Creator (not necessarily a God) would be the discovery that the universe is infinitely old. Some theologians, such as
Alister McGrath, argue that the existence of God is not a question that can be answered using the
scientific method.
Agnostic Stephen Jay Gould argued that science and religion are not in conflict and proposed an approach dividing the world of philosophy into what he called "
non-overlapping magisteria" (NOMA). In this view, questions of the
supernatural, such as those relating to the
existence and nature of God, are
non-
empirical and are the proper domain of
theology. The methods of science should then be used to answer any empirical question about the natural world, and theology should be used to answer questions about ultimate meaning and moral value. In this view, the perceived lack of any empirical footprint from the magisterium of the supernatural onto natural events makes science the sole player in the natural world.
Stephen Hawking and co-author
Leonard Mlodinow state in their 2010 book,
The Grand Design, that 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, however, that it is possible to answer these questions purely within the realm of science and without invoking divine beings.
Oneness A deity, or "god" (with
lowercase g), refers to a supernatural being.
Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, referred to as "God" (with uppercase
g). Comparing or equating other entities to God is viewed as
idolatry in monotheism, and is often strongly condemned.
Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic traditions in the world. Islam's most fundamental concept is
tawhid, meaning 'oneness' or 'uniqueness'. The first
pillar of Islam is an
oath that forms the basis of the religion and which non-Muslims wishing to convert must recite, declaring that, "I testify that there is no deity except God." The
ancient Greek philosopher
Xenophanes referred to "One god greatest among gods and men", highlighting one "God" who is greater than the multiple "gods". In Christianity, the
doctrine of the Trinity describes
God as one God in
Father,
Son (
Jesus), and
Holy Spirit. In past centuries, this fundamental mystery of the Christian faith was also summarized by the Latin formula
Sancta Trinitas, Unus Deus (Holy Trinity, Unique God), reported in the
Litanias Lauretanas.
God is viewed differently by diverse strands of the
Hindu religion, with most Hindus having faith in a
supreme reality (
Brahman) who can be manifested in numerous chosen deities. Thus, the religion is sometimes characterized as
Polymorphic Monotheism.
Henotheism is the belief and worship of a single god at a time while accepting the validity of worshiping other deities.
Monolatry is the belief in a single deity worthy of worship while accepting the existence of other deities.
Transcendence Transcendence is the aspect of God's nature that is completely independent of the material universe and its physical laws. Many supposed characteristics of God are described in human terms.
Anselm thought that God did not feel emotions such as anger or love, but appeared to do so through our imperfect understanding. The incongruity of judging "being" against something that might not exist, led many medieval philosophers approach to knowledge of God through negative attributes, called
Negative theology. For example, one should not say that God is wise, but can say that God is not ignorant (i.e. in some way God has some properties of knowledge). Christian theologian
Alister McGrath writes that one has to understand a "personal god" as an analogy. "To say that God is like a person is to affirm the divine ability and willingness to relate to others. This does not imply that God is human, or located at a specific point in the universe."
Pantheism holds that God is the universe and the universe is God and denies that God transcends the Universe. For pantheist philosopher
Baruch Spinoza, the whole of the natural universe is made of one substance, God, or its equivalent, Nature. Pantheism is sometimes objected to as not providing any meaningful explanation of God with the German philosopher
Arthur Schopenhauer stating, "Pantheism is only a euphemism for atheism."
Pandeism holds that God was a separate entity but then
became the universe.
Panentheism holds that God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe.
Creator God is often viewed as the cause of all that exists. For
Pythagoreans,
Monad variously referred to
divinity, the first being or an indivisible origin. The philosophy of
Plato and
Plotinus refers to "
The One", which is the first principle of reality that is "beyond" being and is both the source of the Universe and the
teleological purpose of all things.
Aristotle theorized a
first uncaused cause for all motion in the universe and viewed it as perfectly beautiful, immaterial, unchanging and indivisible.
Aseity is the property of not depending on any cause other than itself for its existence.
Avicenna held that there must be a
necessarily existent guaranteed to exist by its essence—it cannot "not" exist—and that humans identify this as God.
Secondary causation refers to God creating the laws of the Universe which then can change themselves within the
framework of those laws. In addition to the initial creation,
occasionalism refers to the idea that the Universe would not by default continue to exist from one instant to the next and so would need to rely on God as a
sustainer. While
divine providence refers to any intervention by God, it is usually used to refer to "special providence", where there is an extraordinary intervention by God, such as
miracles.
Omnibenevolence Deism holds that God exists but does not intervene in the world beyond what was necessary to create it, such as answering prayers or producing miracles. Deists sometimes attribute this to God having no interest in or not being aware of humanity. Pandeists would hold that God does not intervene because God is the Universe. Of those theists who hold that God has an interest in humanity, most hold that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. This belief raises questions about God's responsibility for
evil and
suffering in the world.
Dystheism, which is related to
theodicy, is a form of theism which holds that God is either not wholly good or is fully malevolent as a consequence of the
problem of evil.
Omnipotence Omnipotence (all-powerful) is an attribute often ascribed to God. The
omnipotence paradox is most often framed with the example "Could God create a stone so heavy that even he could not lift it?" as God could either be unable to create that stone or lift that stone and so could not be omnipotent. This is often countered with variations of the argument that omnipotence, like any other attribute ascribed to God, only applies as far as it is noble enough to befit God and thus God cannot lie, or do what is contradictory as that would entail opposing himself.
Omniscience Omniscience (all-knowing) is an attribute often ascribed to God. This implies that God knows how free agents will choose to act. If God does know this, either their
free will might be illusory or foreknowledge does not imply predestination, and if God does not know it, God may not be omniscient.
Open Theism limits God's omniscience by contending that, due to the nature of time, God's omniscience does not mean the deity can predict the future and
process theology holds that God does not have
immutability, so is affected by his creation.
Immanence Theologians of
theistic personalism (the view held by
René Descartes,
Isaac Newton,
Alvin Plantinga,
Richard Swinburne,
William Lane Craig, and most
modern evangelicals) argue that God is most generally the ground of all being,
immanent in and transcendent over the whole world of reality, with immanence and transcendence being the contrapletes of personality.
Other concepts God has also been conceived as being
incorporeal (immaterial), a
personal being, the source of all
moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent". and
Al-Ghazali, respectively. ==Non-theistic views==