Arguments for theism and against atheism

Anselm of Canterbury's version of the ontological argument appeared in his work Proslogium.

The majority of philosophers of religion, or those who have extensively studied the issue of the existence of God, are theists (72 percent).

In relation to the debate between theism and atheism, theists often criticize atheism as being contrary to persuasive argument and have a number of arguments against atheism.

Within Christendom, the discipline of Christian apologetics has been developed. Christian apologetics is the defense of the Christian faith through logic/evidence based arguments. The word apologetics comes from the Greek word apologia (from Greek ἀπολογία), which means "speaking in defense".

Arguments for the existence of God include:

• Teleological argument: The universe exhibits overwhelming evidence of deliberate, intelligent, purposeful design, which implies an intelligent designer. See also: Arguments against evolution and Origin of life

• Evidential apologetics is an approach in Christian apologetics which emphasizes the use of evidence to demonstrate that God exists and that there is compelling evidence to support Christianity and the Bible. In addition, there are various arguments that atheists or other unbelievers weigh evidence improperly (see: Atheism and evidence).

• Moral argument. Objective morality exists. Atheism lacks objective moral standards. Not possessing a coherent basis for morality, atheists are fundamentally incapable of having a coherent system of morality (See also: Atheism and morality and List of the moral failures of the atheist population and Atheism and hedonism and Atheist hypocrisy) . Atheism leads to moral and cultural decline (see: Atheism and culture).

• Cosmological argument: Every event in our universe necessarily has a cause. However, it is impossible that there should be an unending chain of causes going back. Therefore, there necessarily must be a cause distinct from the universe as we know it which is capable of causing all things and is itself uncaused. Atheism denies that that first cause is God. Christians point out that the question "Who created God" is an illogical question. See also: Atheism and the origin of the universe

• Historical arguments for the existence of God (subset of evidential apologetics). For example, arguments stemming from historical accounts such as Christian historical apologetics, Christian legal apologetics and archaeological evidence such as Bible archaeology

• Bible prophecy

• Atheism and presuppositional apologetics

• Ontological argument

• Atheism and irrationality - Atheism cannot account for the laws of logic, consciousness or human reason.

• Atheism and the Problem of Evil (see also: Atheism and gratitude and Atheism and Hell)

• Atheists lack a coherent and compelling ultimate basis for knowledge. See: Atheism and epistemology

• Atheism is an unnecessarily limiting view of the world (see: Atheism is an unnecessarily limiting view of the world).

• Common arguments against atheism

• Ontological argument: According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Ontological arguments are arguments, for the conclusion that God exists, from premises which are supposed to derive from some source other than observation of the world — e.g., from reason alone."

The argument from beauty argues the existence of beauty in the natural world testifies to the existence of God who both designed natural beauty and who possesses a divine beauty.

• Experiential arguments for the existence of God: Arguments based on personal experience and human intuition. According to philosopher Alvin Plantinga belief in the existence of God exists is a "properly basic" belief and not based on inference from other beliefs but is rationally justified due to one's circumstances of immediate experience of God.

• Various social science studies, historical data and other data, demonstrate that atheism often has a harmful effect on individuals and societies. See: Atheism statistics and Christianity vs. atheism statistics

• Atheism and love. Atheists cannot give a satisfactory/robust explanation for the existence of love.

• Argument from beauty See also: Atheist art and Atheist music and Atheism and wonder

• Inconsistency when it comes to the probability of supernatural phenomena or extremely unlikely events. For example, a significant percentage of atheists believe in life after death and possess superstitious beliefs (see: Atheism and the supernatural).

• Atheism and Miracles

• Atheists are commonly criticized for engaging in groupthink and having a lack of cultural/geographic, racial, gender and socioeconomic diversity (see: Atheism and groupthink and Atheism and diversity).

• Atheists doubting the validity of atheism

• Bible scientific foreknowledge

• Lack of proof and evidence that atheism is true contrasted with the strong evidence supporting Christianity. In debates with atheists, the debate opponents of atheists commonly ask for evidence supporting atheism knowing that atheists cannot provide such evidence (for example, William Lane Craig typically does this during his debates). Atheism is a religion and it is a worldview which has no evidential support.

• Historically, the atheist population has often used mockery as a substitution for reasonable discussion/debate (see: Atheism and mockery). See also: Atheism and humor

• In recent years, atheist intellectuals have been lethargic in terms of responding to arguments for the existence of God (See: Stagnation of atheist apologetics).

• Atheism and the Bible

• Various Christian apologetic resources focusing on atheism

• Atheism and the suppression of science

• Argument from desire

• Pascal's wager

• Resources for leaving atheism and becoming a Christian

For more information, please see:

• Refutations of atheism

• Responses to atheist arguments

See also

• Logical arguments for the existence of God