# Does god exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 1, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933 "2003-06-01T10:48:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ajfrod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@ajfrod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ajfrod)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/1 "2003-06-01T10:48:41Z")
Does god exist? Many people think he exists? Please tell me. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/2 "2003-06-01T10:56:53Z")
Ask the people who tell you God exists _why_ they think so, then think about whether the reasons they give hold up or not. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/3 "2003-06-01T15:39:11Z")
Shouldn’t this be in GQ? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/4 "2003-06-01T15:56:27Z")
Yes, she does. But that is a matter of faith, not logic, for me. That faith has been sustained by taking the time to notice beautiful moments and little miracles – everything from the scent of violets to an observance of fractals. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/5 "2003-06-01T18:53:10Z")
Until a conclusive and verifiable empirical scientific test for God’s existence can be constructed, there is neither any positive answer nor disproof. ---
**Author:** ![TVAA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TVAA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVAA)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/6 "2003-06-01T19:44:19Z")
Which God? What God? Without a more specific definition, how can we answer your question? ---
**Author:** ![ShoNuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@ShoNuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShoNuff)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/7 "2003-06-01T19:53:51Z")
> [@](#): > > _The Origin of the Babel Fish > written by Douglas Adams_ > > \*\*The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish. > > Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the NON-existence of God. > > The argument goes like this: > > `I refuse to prove that I exist,' says God, `for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.’ > > `But,' says Man, `The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn’t it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don’t. QED.’ > > `Oh dear,' says God, `I hadn’t thought of that,’ and promptly disappears in a puff of logic. > > `Oh, that was easy,’ says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.\*\* 'Nuff Said ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/8 "2003-06-01T21:29:31Z")
…Except of course that the bable fish _doesn’t_ exist. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/9 "2003-06-01T21:49:00Z")
Define God. The answer will then be self-evident. 😉 Seriously, I have absolutely no problem with a worldview in which He (operating largely but not exclusively as the traditional Christian Trinity) is the absolute Reality underlying everything else – and including Personhood as an aspect of His Reality. The skeptic, not having my particular perspective, sees Him as an unnecessary accretion on a physical reality that does not require Him for its existence. I can grasp that idea, and don’t demand of them that He be a mythological character accepted as real. But I see Him as a vital part of the world in which I live, and a very real and loving Presence shaping my ongoing destiny, along with the destinies of everyone else as well. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/10 "2003-06-01T22:22:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ajfrod \* > **Does god exist?** Yes, I do. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/11 "2003-06-01T22:31:39Z")
Yes. And He is a homo. ---
**Author:** ![coax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ec8ea/32.png) [@coax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coax)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/12 "2003-06-01T22:35:44Z")
In the universe there has to be a ‘being’ of some sort that is more powerful than any other being in said universe. This is the only God that exists in my worldview. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/13 "2003-06-01T22:53:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ShoNuff \* > \*\*'Nuff Said \*\* 😃 I simply love that. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/14 "2003-06-01T23:01:14Z")
God Is. ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/15 "2003-06-01T23:25:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ajfrod \* > \*\*Does god exist? > Many people think he exists? > Please tell me. \*\* My personal experience leads me to believe that the Gods do exist. But as has been pointed out, the evidence is purely subjective, which does not count as “proof.” However, many people across many cultures and throughout time have had similar experiences. Given the wide variety and cross-cultural dimension of these experiences, they do not seem to be a mental aberation. I count this as indirect evidence for proof of the existence of the Gods. ---
**Author:** ![Freiheit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@Freiheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freiheit)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/16 "2003-06-02T01:18:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*…Except of course that the bable fish _doesn’t_ exist. \*\* Right. But things do exist in nature that are mind-bogglingly complex, beautiful, and ridiculously _unlikely_ (For example, us) that a higher power MUST exist. I choose to believe in the God of the Bible. ---
**Author:** ![Susma\_Rio\_Sep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/35a633/32.png) [@Susma\_Rio\_Sep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susma_Rio_Sep)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/17 "2003-06-02T01:48:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ajfrod \* > \*\*Does god exist? > Many people think he exists? > Please tell me. \*\* Brother, I tell you, you’d better believe in God. But you don’t have to accept any so-called self-proclaimed spokesmen and exclusive agents of His goodies. Now, as I think Rumsfeld tells us, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, this basis can be a very practical ground for belief in God. So brother, believe in Him and be happy. Susma Rio Sep ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/18 "2003-06-02T04:39:24Z")
I would say that if you allow your definition to become \*loose \*enough, you have to say God exists. Unless you are a nihilist or something.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tastycorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@tastycorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tastycorn)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/19 "2003-06-02T10:07:17Z")
There must be one creature in the universe above all others (someone’s gotta be number one) but… I can only base rational conclusions on personally verifiable data (gotta see it to believe it) and… I’m the smartest person I know so… If there is a god, he must be me. …or Ben Stein ---
**Author:** ![sickboy51](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@sickboy51](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sickboy51)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933/20 "2003-06-02T11:46:25Z")
I can´t beleive in such a being… you see, I have this feeling that something isn´t as it should be, the world doesn´t seem to work properly… at least if it was created by and almighty god, omniconscious and with unlimmited powers. Maybe god himself/herself didn´t crate the world, but was created after the big bang or something… allright, but again, why doesn´t he interferres in everything going on? Has he/she no interest in us? Can´t he/she interferre? Maybe, far from us somewhere in the univrese, there are creatures with great wisdom and power, but I wouldn´t consider them as gods. No, I don´t think god exists. I respect people´s beliefs, but I don´t share them. I know some of you had personal experiences that porved its existebce… I had my own that proved me he/she doesn´t exist. Care of yourself and be happy, if god exists… well, he/she can take care of himself/herself, I guess. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-exist/178933.md?page=2)