This blog post aims to help us inquire into God’s existence. First we will address two basic objections to such an inquiry. Then some different models of inquiring into God’s existence will be sketched. Next we’ll deal with the important topics of explanations, theories, evidence and arguments. After that I’ll outline some next steps we can take in our inquiry into God’s existence.

Objections

The first objection to our inquiry is that it is already clear that God does (not) exist, either because this is immediately obvious upon reflection or because the (non)existence of God has been proven. However, it is at least not obvious to all whether or not God exists. Indeed, there is actually deep disagreement on this matter and we have no uncontroversial (dis)proof of God’s existence. Even people that believe that God does (not) exist will often still grant that God’s (non)existence is nevertheless possible in light of what they know about reality. The second objection then is that it is in fact unknowable whether or not God exists. It is therefore, so the objection goes, pointless to inquire into this matter. But for many of us it is not completely clear at the outset that it is impossible for us to know if God exists, even if we are doubtful of this. Moreover, there seem to be things we can gain from such an inquiry which would make it worthwhile, for instance, a more informed view of the debate about God’s existence and the various arguments in favor or against it.

Models of Inquiry

One model for inquiring into God’s existence is what we might call ‘the research project’. Roughly, on this model, to inquire into God’s existence is to conduct a research project which involves the study of much academic literature and the publication of scholarly articles and monographs. This model can bring rigor, nuance, careful thinking and excellence to our inquiry into the existence of God. However, it can also turn our inquiry into a vanity project and subjugate it to the concerns of academic careerism. A second model is what we might term ‘the quest’. This model helps us think of our inquiry as something which may involve various dangers and risks and may require of us certain virtues such as courage, perseverance and love. A third model is ‘the pilgrimage’. This model reminds us that we are (potentially) dealing with holy matters. God is plausibly not to be trifled with, and we should perhaps conduct our inquiry with care and reverence. The final model is ‘the personal meeting’. We can easily come under the impression that God is the passive object of our inquiry, but perhaps we should approach God more as a subject, as Someone rather than Something, and as Someone that we can get to know personally. Perhaps by drawing on these different models of inquiry, we can inquire into God’s existence in a way that is both fitting and proper.

Explanations, Theories, Evidence and Arguments

An explanation is roughly a (set of) truth claim(s) that explain some piece of data or state of affairs. Rival explanations (i.e. explanations that provide alternative explanations of something) can be evaluated through comparing their internal consistency (coherence), ontological commitments and implications (simplicity and cost), and the extent to which they explain relevant data (explanatory power). The question of God’s existence can be part of discussions of larger theories of reality and explanations of the ultimate origins of the things we see around us. Discussing God in the context of metaphysics can take way some of the heatedness and unhelpful dynamics of conversations between atheists, theists and agnostics. However, in the process we can easily start treating God as a theoretical entity instead of as a personal being. We must not forget to also seek God directly, and to seek God as a Someone.

There are different accounts of what evidence is, but one way of characterizing evidence is as follows: x is evidence for y if x indicates or suggests that y is the case. A theory, which is not quite the same thing as an explanation but is (typically) part of an explanation, is supported by evidence, on this account, if there are things which suggest that the theory is true. Note that this account of evidence does not rule out that some data is evidence for rival theories. Theories can also be supported by arguments. Arguments are roughly sets of claims structured in a way to support some conclusion(s). Simple arguments contain a conclusion and one or two premises which support the conclusion. But arguments can be much longer and also have different argumentative forms (it is common to think that there are deductive, inductive and abductive arguments). Arguments can be more definite than mere evidence (because of their conclusion) and they can relate with theories in such a way that the theory can only be true if the arguments are in some way flawed (e.g. false premises or flawed logic). When it comes to God’s existence it is thus the case that if God exists, there must be some flaw in all arguments against God’s existence, a flaw we might be able to discover through the study of such arguments. (Of course, it is possible that God exists and arguments against a faulty conception of God are not flawed). Likewise, if God does not exist, all arguments for the existence of God must have some flaw.

Next steps

So what sort of next steps can we take in our inquiry into God’s existence? Well, for one, we might outline in more detail what exactly we are after, what dangers and obstacles we might face, what might be required for us to succeed in our inquiry and what methods we could try to use to attain our goals. We could also look to others who have inquired into God’s existence. What steps did they take and what mistakes did they make along the way? Looking into the philosophical debate about God’s existence is also a good option in light of the relationship between arguments and theories. Also, we might try to find people who are willing to inquire with us, inquiring into God’s existence need not be a solitary project. Of course, and not unimportantly, we might ask for divine assistance in our inquiry and ask that God’s existence might be revealed to us.