Does God really exist?

As a matter of faith, Christians believe that God exists. When you have faith in something or someone the question does not arise whether something or someone exists. In the Middle Ages some Christian thinkers went a step further to show that God’s existence could be proved by rational argument.

St Anslem was one such Christian thinker who invented the Ontological Argument to prove the existence of God. He was born in Aosta in Italy in 1033. Anslem studied in a monastery in Bec in France under the eminent logician and Biblical commentator Lanfranc. In 1060 he became a monk and then an abbot. When he travelled to England in 1093, he was appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Being a radical thinker he soon had conflicts with the Anglo-Norman kings William II and Henry I. The conflict arose when he upheld the church against royal power. when disputes came to a head, he fled from England to meet the Pope in Rome. He pleaded the case for the English church and his own removal from office. After some time, however, he reconciled with King Henry I and returned to England. St Anslem died in Canterbury at 76.

The Fool

To prove his point that God really existed, St Anslem imagined himself arguing with a Fool. The Fool denied the existence of God when he was asked whether God existed. Then Anslem asked him whether nothing greater can be thought existed in his mind. The Fool admitted that such an idea existed in his mind, but not in reality. Anslem questioned the Fool again.

“Do you agree that something that exists in reality and in the mind is greater than something that exists in the mind alone?”

The Fool said that an ice cream in his hand is better than one in his imagination. Not to be outdone, St Anslem asked him, “If nothing greater can be thought, is it less great than if it existed in reality.” The Fool agreed that it is true. Quite happy with his line of argument, Anslem fired his next question: “So, now you say that there is something greater than that which nothing greater exists?” The Fool said his question did not make any sense. St Anslem said, “If that is so, God exists in thought and reality.”

Ontological argument

St Anslem’s Ontological Argument has been accepted by many philosophers. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) agreed with Anslem’s claim that it is impossible to conceive of or even imagine God without also thinking of existence. He believed that the idea of God included “all perfections” and existence was a perfection. According to Descartes, we cannot comprehend God but we can clearly and distinctly grasp the uniqueness of the idea of God.

Benedict de Spinoza (1632-1677), a great philosopher influenced by Descartes also agreed with St Anslem’s theory. According to him, everything in the universe is part of God and everything that happens is a necessary part or expression of the divine nature. Spinoza’s major work The Ethics (1677) sets out his metaphysical views including the idea that reality consists of one single substance which can equally well be called “God.”

Although Descartes and Spinoza supported St Anslem’s theory that God exists, Anslem’s contemporary Gaunilo of Marmoutiers disagreed that there existed a marvellous island greater than any other island that can be thought of.

Influential

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), probably the most influential philosopher since Aristotle, also said that St Anslem was wrong to say that what existed in reality as well as in the mind was greater than that existed in the mind.

David Hume (1711-1776), the philosophical hero of modern day sceptics and empiricists, rejected all efforts of his predecessors to prove the existence of God. He rejected St Anslem’s Ontological Argument on the ground that the very qualities ascribed to God such as perfection, omniscience and omnipotence do not correspond to specific impressions. According to him, “They are empty noises.”

Those who believe in the existence of God perceive order, harmony and beauty throughout the universe. We feel God’s presence in a beautiful sunset or an ocean breeze. However, Hume says that is not the whole picture. If God created a perfect world, it must remain so. But when a man, a creation of God, builds a ship or aircraft he simply copies and improves on someone else’s efforts. Man is still improving his innovations and he has not created anything perfect.

There is even less reason to believe in the existence of God if we take a hard look at life. According to Hume, human life is full of more misery than happiness. This is something we cannot expect from an omnipotent and benevolent God.

St Anslem weighs the pros and cons of the arguments of his detractors. He categorically says, “Just by thinking about God we can know he exists.” In other words, he confirms that those who have faith in God do not need any proof of his existence.