Introduction

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. – Psalm 53:1

Is there a God or not? This question eclipses all other questions that mankind might ask. Should you feel that statement is the opinion of a theologian or a preacher, then listen to this statement, found in The Great Ideas Syntopicon, the crucial study guide for the Great Book series, a remarkable collection of most of the combined wisdom of Western civilisation from the time of Thales to the present. Mortimer Adler states, ‘With the exception of certain mathematicians and physicists, all authors of the Great Books are represented in the chapter on God.’ The reason is obvious. More consequences for thought and action follow the affirmation or denial of God than the answering of any other basic question. The whole tenor of human life is affected by whether men regard themselves as the supreme being in the universe, or acknowledge a superhuman being whom they conceive of as an object of fear or love and a force to be defied or a Lord to be obeyed. In this time of militant, marching atheism, which is spreading itself like a deadly fungus across our world, we need to consider the significance of this question and the evidence for the existence of God.