Does God Exist?

[State Comptroller Atkins]

We haven't had this for a while IIRC.

[Californian Tony]

Maybe is the only rational option.

[A cowboy always follows his beard]

NB4 Fundamentalism.

[Insula Dei]

Maybe is the only rational option.

Kierkegaard would agree.

EDIT: As would Blaise Pascal.

[IDS Judicial Overlord John Dibble]

"Maybe" I suppose. I can't say with absolute certainty that there aren't any gods, though I don't find it likely.

[Redalgo]

Maybe is the only rational option.

Aye, I do not believe God exists but do not actually claim to know whether or not God exists.

[oakvale]

I don't have any reason to believe so, no.

Although it's also highly arguable as to whether "god" is even a meaningful concept.

[asexual trans victimologist]

Maybe is the only rational option.

I'm not an immensely rationalistic person.

Voted Yes because leap to faith but strictly speaking the answer would be Unsure.

[The Mikado]

Maybe is the only rational option.

No, the only rational option would be "Define 'God' and define 'exist.'" 

[Senator Ben]

I absolutely believe in a supreme, omnipotent Deity.

[LBJer]

I voted "No" because I assumed that by "God" the question is asking about God in the traditional religious sense.  If the question is whether God exists in the sense of being "a cosmic force in the universe," as the ARDA survey I posted on this forum a while back put it, then maybe.  I voted "Agree" to that description of God because the (somewhat confusing) question asked what the respondent thought God was like, regardless of whether they believe in God or not. If there is a God, I envision some kind of morally neutral cosmic force.  But as far as God in the sense that most religions preach--a morally good force that plays a role in world affairs--I think the evidence overwhelmingly says no.

[afleitch]

I agree a bit with LBJ.

If there is a 'god', then we have to determine what sort of god it is and why we call it so. A 'god' need not be a deity. A 'god' need not be infinite or infallible. A 'god' can be flawed. If an alien from a distant sun dropped by and created life on earth because it nothing better to do then crashed and died on the way home then for our purposes it would be our 'god'; but we would never know that it was or need to know that it was.

In terms of what is on offer in terms of the gods that are popular today (and I am very much a believer that religion throughout human history is not about 'truth' versus 'untruth' but a popularity contest with ever changing winners) then it's left wanting. Christianity/Judaism/Islam is quite poor at owning the notion of god.

If I had to attach any awe or reverence to anything then it would be the Sun, without which you and I would never have been here. It's not an entity, it's not conscious, it doesn't know what it's doing but it rules our very existance.

[LBJer]

If I had to attach any awe or reverence to anything then it would be the Sun, without which you and I would never have been here. It's not an entity, it's not conscious, it doesn't know what it's doing but it rules our very existance.

Very thought-provoking comment.

[Insula Dei]

(The) Mikado has a bit of a point: what do you mean by 'exist'? Remember Heidegger's 'Gott ist, aber Er existiert nicht'

[True Federalist]

If I had to attach any awe or reverence to anything then it would be the Sun, without which you and I would never have been here. It's not an entity, it's not conscious, it doesn't know what it's doing but it rules our very existence.

How do you know that the Sun is not conscious?  That is awfully bigoted against non-carbon-based lifeforms in my opinion.

[Ѕenator Αverroës]

You provide no definition, I probably would not accept as true any attempt at a definition, and, therefore, your question does not make sense.

(In other words, I'm with Mikado and Oakvale.)

[politicus]

Of course she does ;-)

[anvi]

politicus,

Welcome to the forum!  After we lost several female posters in the last year, your arrival here is great news--thank goodness!

In answer to the thread question, no.

[harry_johnson]

Yes by definition. What we know to be a first mover or first cause, first essence is what is God. Now the presence of God is highly flawed by religion, especially in ancient times but the idea of God throughout history does show the evolution of what we know is not God; humanity and every other part of matter. I must ask; are you referring to the God of Christianity or monotheism or a creator?

[Fmr. Emperor PiT]

Yes by definition. What we know to be a first mover or first cause, first essence is what is God. Now the presence of God is highly flawed by religion, especially in ancient times but the idea of God throughout history does show the evolution of what we know is not God; humanity and every other part of matter. I must ask; are you referring to the God of Christianity or monotheism or a creator?

     Hello, Derek.

[Grad Students are the Worst]

Yes by definition. What we know to be a first mover or first cause, first essence is what is God. Now the presence of God is highly flawed by religion, especially in ancient times but the idea of God throughout history does show the evolution of what we know is not God; humanity and every other part of matter. I must ask; are you referring to the God of Christianity or monotheism or a creator?

If you define God as an entity that can just come into existence, why can't the universe just come into existence, or whatever?  Is anything capable of just coming into existence definitionally "God"?

[Old Europe]

Probably not... but who knows.

The existence of God or Gods would be kind of cool, but so would be aliens. Then again, I would probably consider God to be just another kind of extra-terrestrial.

[Ѕenator Αverroës]

Yes by definition. What we know to be a first mover or first cause, first essence is what is God. Now the presence of God is highly flawed by religion, especially in ancient times but the idea of God throughout history does show the evolution of what we know is not God; humanity and every other part of matter. I must ask; are you referring to the God of Christianity or monotheism or a creator?

Welcome to the forum. I only wish that your arrival were on better terms than an attempt to defend the thoroughly-debunked cosmological argument.

[Yelnoc]

As Mikado said, this question would be a lot easier to answer with a definition of "God."  When I hear that word, I think of the Gods created by men, of Allah and Jehovah and Zeus.  Those Gods do, or did exist in one form or another throughout history, so much as any concept held to be true by a multiplicity of humans can be said to "exist."  As Afleitch points out, there is the Sun, the most powerful body in the Solar System to which we owe are existence.  It certainly "exists" in every sense of the world.  Does it fulfill the criteria of "God"?  Our ancestors certainly thought so, though we modern, educated people refer to it now as only a star.  We understand how the nuclear reactions in its core produce light and heat; in so doing, we removed its Deity status.  From what I can see, the Gods are dying trample under the foot of progress.

[Tidewater_Wave]

In my years as a scholar, I've heard alot of plausable and poor theories. I've never heard anything as stupid as matter just appeared from nowhere and things began to exist for no reason.