Essay: A Critical Analysis of Arguments Against God's Existence

This essay presents a comprehensive argument against the existence of God, drawing upon philosophical perspectives and various lines of reasoning. The author begins by highlighting the lack of concrete evidence for God's existence, emphasizing that despite widespread belief, no one has ever physically seen or provided definitive proof of God. The essay then delves into the topsy-turvy nature of the contemporary world, marked by suffering, inequality, and various calamities, questioning the benevolence of a God who seemingly allows such evils to persist. Furthermore, the essay incorporates Nietzsche's theory of the genealogy of morals, suggesting that the concept of God and religion were created by the weaker individuals to exert influence over the stronger ones. Throughout the essay, the author uses references from various scholars like Naylor, Ankerberg and Burroughs, Monaghan, Mugg, Wielenberg, Vallicella, Dreyer, Kraay, Viney, Milem, and Robin to support their arguments. The essay concludes that, in light of the lack of empirical evidence, the existence of suffering, and the socio-political function of religion, the concept of God is merely a human construct.

Running head: GOD AND HIS EXISTENCE
GOD AND HIS EXISTENCE
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Author’s Note:

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As stated by Naylor (2018), an important topic which had formed the central lacuna of
numerous debates as well as scholarly research work over the years can be attributed to the
aspect of existence of God. Ankerberg and Burroughs (2018) are of the viewpoint that more than
90% of the people of the world are the followers of one form of religion or the other and thereby
worship a God despite the fact that they have never seen God or for that matter have any
concrete evidence regarding the existence of the same. More importantly, there are many people
who in the present times although do not believe in the physical existence of God yet believe in
the presence of a spiritual energy which controls the different aspects of the universe along with
the lives of the living beings. However, the lack of proof or evidence regarding the physical
existence of God, the topsy-turvy or for that the semi-dystopian nature of the contemporary
world, Nietzsche’s theory of genealogy of morals and others clearly indicate that God is merely a
figment of the imagination of the people rather than something which actually exists. The
purpose of this paper is to argue that God does not exist through the usage of the above
mentioned three arguments.
The majority of the people blindly believe in God and the ideas propounded by Him
yet none of the individuals in the entire history of mankind had been able to see God. Monaghan
(2019) is of the viewpoint that the primary objective behind the creation of the entity of religion
as well as God was to civilize the human beings by way of forcing the people to follow the
different rules, practices or for that matter the stipulations of the religions. Adding to this, Mugg
(2016) has noted that almost all the religions of the world have claimed that their God is the
supreme one and there have either denied the existence of the other Gods or have stated that they
subservient to their God. More importantly, it had also been seen that within almost all the
different religions of the world some of the saints or the ardent followers have claim to see God

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yet none of them have been able to offer any concrete proof regarding the same or shed any
insightful light regarding the appearance, features or the other aspects of the God. Furthermore, a
close analysis of the different religions of the world indicate the fact that the stories, the teaching,
the practices and others which they ask the followers to ardently follow are almost similar in
nature yet the followers related to the different religions of the world had been fighting with each
other for centuries just to prove the fact that the religion as well as the God that they follow is the
superior one (Wielenberg, 2017). In this relation, it needs to be said that to determine the actual
presence of a particular thing or an individual it is important to have a concrete knowledge
regarding the concerned individual or the thing. However, in the particular context of God it is
seen that the knowledge of the common people regarding Him is limited to the information
which is being offered by the scriptures or the religious books and apart from that people do not
have any other information about Him (Vallicella, 2018). In addition to these, some of the most
devoted followers have argued the fact that in order to presence of God one needs to have deep
faith on Him and also share an emotional bond with Him (Dreyer, 2018). However, the question
still remains how is an individual likely to have blind faith on an individual about whom
everything that he or she knows is derived from the scriptures, forget about forming an emotional
bond with him. Thus, in the absence of any concrete evidence regarding the existence of God it
can be said that God does not exist.
The topsy-turvy world or for that matter the semi-dystopian world in which the
contemporary people live in and the kinds of evils that they have to face makes the idea
regarding the existence of a benevolent as well as a loving God completely untrustworthy. Kraay
(2017) is of the viewpoint that an important similarity among the different religions of the world
is the fact that they articulate the fact that their God is the creator and destroyer of life and all the

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things that happen in the life of the individuals are as per the wish of God Himself. Adding to
this, Viney (2016) has noted that within the contemporary world it is seen that the 90% of the
wealth and thereby the power as well as the influence is being held by less than 10% of the
people of the world. This in turn had given rise to the situation wherein numerous people are
dying out of hunger and also from malnourishment. Furthermore, the different kinds of diseases,
natural and manmade calamities, terrorist attacks and others that the individuals had to face
within the world had become an important characteristic feature of the contemporary world
(Milem, 2019). In this relation, it needs to be said that the different religions of the world
articulate the idea that the people are the children of God and the various things which happen in
the lives of the people are God’s way of testing their faith and also to reward as well as punish
them on the basis of their actions. However, the above mentioned aspects of the contemporary
world or for that matter the kind of lives that the people makes one question the very idea of
God’s testing the faith his followers or the sins as well as the mistakes that they have committed
because of which they are being given the punishment (Monaghan, 2019). This in turn also
makes the individuals raise the question why only a handful number of people of world are
leading a good or a fruitful life whereas the rest of the people had to endure Herculean amount of
pain as well as suffering. In addition to these, if all the individuals are the children of God then
why is He letting his children endure so much suffering and even making His children indulge in
discrimination, ostracism, stigmatization and other kinds of events. These aspects of the
contemporary world clearly indicate that the world and also the lives of the people are devoid of
a God and the idea of a God is just a figment of the imagination of the people.
Nietzsche’s theory of genealogy of morals and others clearly indicate that God is merely
a figment of the imagination of the people rather than something which actually exists. Nietzsche

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articulated the fact that in contradiction to the viewpoint of Charles Darwin regarding the
“survival of the fittest” or the “survival of the strongest” in the contemporary world it is seen that
the weaker section of the society had developed a weapon to survive the stronger people
(Santaniello, 2017). The name of this weapon is religion or God and it is seen that the weaker
people over the years had used this imbibe fear within the mind of the stronger people that if they
anything against the weaker then they would have to burn in Hell for the same. More
importantly, on the basis of this the entire construct of morality had been developed by the
individuals which as a matter of fact complements the framework of religion and together they
have facilitated the creation of a society or for that matter a world wherein it is seen that the
weaker individuals or the less deserving individuals rule over the stronger individuals or the
comparatively more deserving individuals (Robin, 2018). In the light of this, it can be said that
God does not have a real existence and the idea about the same had been created by the
individuals so as to have the required amount of power as well as influence within the societal
framework.
To conclude, the human beings since the dawn of time had worshipped one God or the
other and also blindly followed the teaching or for that matter the preaching of the religion to
which the God is related. However, at the same time it had been seen that none of the individuals
in the entire history of mankind has actually seen God or has concrete proof regarding the
existence of the same. Furthermore, the different kinds of evils, social deprivation, pain,
sufferings and others that the individuals had to endure clearly points towards the absence of a
God within this world. Lastly, Nietzsche’s theory of genealogy of morals clearly indicates that
religion of God are merely constructs which had been created by the weaker individuals or the

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less deserving for the purpose of dominating the individuals who are actually stronger or more
deserving. In the light of these arguments it can be said that God does not exist.

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References
Ankerberg, J., & Burroughs, D. (2018). How Do We Know God Exists?. ATRI Publishing.
Dreyer, N. J. (2018). Does God Exist? A Socratic Dialogue on the Five Ways of Thomas
Aquinas. The Incarnate Word, 5(2), 216-219.
Kraay, K. (Ed.). (2017). Does God Matter?: Essays on the Axiological Consequences of Theism.
Routledge.
Milem, B. (2019). Defining atheism, theism, and god. International Journal for Philosophy of
Religion, 85(3), 335-346.
Monaghan, P. X. (2019). God* does not exist: a novel logical problem of evil. International
Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 1-15.
Mugg, J. (2016). The quietest challenge to the axiology of god: A cognitive approach to
counterpossibles. Faith and Philosophy, 33(4), 441-460.
Naylor, M. (2018). God, Evil, and Infinite Value. Religions, 9(1), 20.
Robin, A. R. (2018). Nietzsche’s Use of Atheism. In Nietzsche (pp. 69-82). Routledge.
Santaniello, W. (2017). Nietzsche: American Idol or European Prophet? The “Death of God” in
America and Nietzsche's Madman. American Journal of Theology & Philosophy, 38(2-3),
201-222.
Vallicella, W. F. (2018). Does god exist because he ought to exist. Ontology of theistic beliefs,
205-212.

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Viney, D. W. (2016). God Almighty and God All-Loving: A Review Article of David Ray
Griffin’s God Exists But Gawd Does Not. Process Studies, 45(2), 176-198.
Wielenberg, E. J. (2017). The Absurdity of life in a Christian Universe as a reason to prefer that
god not exist. In Does God Matter? (pp. 155-171). Routledge.