# Does God exist? Grab your popcorn. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 21, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist-grab-your-popcorn/511024 "2009-09-21T23:42:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blut\_Aus\_Nord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Blut\_Aus\_Nord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blut_Aus_Nord)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist-grab-your-popcorn/511024/1 "2009-09-21T23:42:06Z")
From what I saw in a couple minutes, the Dawkins thread only touches on it. But I’m bored and unsatisfied by the restrained anger and lack of bloodshed. I don’t really even need to kick things off; this will ride itself into oblivion. GO! ---
**Author:** ![ragerdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@ragerdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ragerdude)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist-grab-your-popcorn/511024/2 "2009-09-21T23:46:52Z")
Yes, God exists, just as certainly as Truth, Beauty, and Love each exist. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist-grab-your-popcorn/511024/3 "2009-09-21T23:49:13Z")
If God exists, he’s doing a damn good job of hiding evidence of his existence. (Which kinda defeats the purpose of being God, come to think.) ---
**Author:** ![ragerdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@ragerdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ragerdude)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist-grab-your-popcorn/511024/4 "2009-09-21T23:54:55Z")
N. T. Wright made a very fine point here: > [@](#): > > For seven years I was College Chaplain and Worcester College, Oxford. Each year I used to see the first year undergraduates individually for a few minutes, to welcome them to the college and make a first acquaintance. Most were happy to meet me; but many commented, often with slight embarrassment, “You won’t be seeing much of me; you see, I don’t believe in god.” > > I developed a stock response: “Oh, that’s interesting; which god is it you don’t believe in?” This used to surprise them; they mostly regarded the word “God” as a univocal, always meaning the same thing. So they would stumble out a few phrases about the god they said they did not believe in: a being who lived up the in the sky, looking down disapprovingly at the world, occasionally “intervening” to do miracles, sending bad people to hell while allowing good people to share his heaven. Again, I had a stock response for this very common statement of “spy-in-the-sky” theology: “Well, I’m not surprised you don’t believe in that god. I don’t believe in that god either.” > > At this point the undergraduate would look startled. Then, perhaps, a faint look of recognition; it was sometimes rumored that half the college chaplains at Oxford were atheists. “No,” I would say; “I believe in the god I see revealed in Jesus of Nazareth.” What most people mean by “god” in late-modern western culture simply is not the mainstream Christian meaning. From [here](http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_JIG.htm). ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist-grab-your-popcorn/511024/5 "2009-09-21T23:58:31Z")
Probably not. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist-grab-your-popcorn/511024/6 "2009-09-22T00:03:45Z")
No. We have probed pretty deep into most of the underlying questions that were once answered by a belief in gods and have found the explanations. We haven’t found even one speck of evidence to point to the existence of such a being. ---
**Author:** ![UncleNito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/7cd45c/32.png) [@UncleNito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleNito)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist-grab-your-popcorn/511024/7 "2009-09-22T00:06:22Z")
1. Define “God.” 2. Produce evidence that the entity or concept you call “God” exists. If I find your evidence persuasive, then I will agree with you that the thing you call “God” exists. If not, I won’t. F’rinstance, if “God” is “any entity with exactly the same set of characteristics as a domesticated cat,” then I regretfully agree that a God is licking its anus in my living room as I type this. OTOH, if you can’t even make it past step 1, you’re going to have a hard time with step 2. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Captain\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist-grab-your-popcorn/511024/8 "2009-09-22T00:13:34Z")
I have a hard time making it past God’s anilingus. ETA: Theism; no, beyond all reasonable doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist-grab-your-popcorn/511024/9 "2009-09-22T00:17:59Z")
> [@UncleNito](#): > > 1. Define “God.” Yep – and why I’m edging towards identifying as [Ignostic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignostic). Once we get #1 nailed down we can start discussing evidence. Until then… ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist-grab-your-popcorn/511024/10 "2009-09-22T01:56:40Z")
> [@Blut\_Aus\_Nord](#): > > But I’m bored and unsatisfied by the restrained anger and lack of bloodshed. These are inadequate reasons to post one more worthless poll in Great Debates. Closed.