Is there even a “shred of evidence” for the existence of God?
Many people today are under the impression that all the arguments for the existence of God fail miserably. But this view is completely outdated and incorrect. The past few decades have witnessed a major resurgence in the number of theistic philosophers who present strong arguments for the existence of God.
Unfortunately, this fact is not very well known even by other philosophers working in related fields, such as philosophy of mind. For example, the atheist Quentin Smith (Emeritus Professor of philosophy at Western Michigan University), has criticized the eminent philosopher of mind, John Searle, for quickly and glibly dismissing theism without realizing how sophisticated the arguments are.
We have the following situation: A hand waving dismissal of theism… Searle does not have an area of specialization in the philosophy of religion and, if he did, he might, in the face of the erudite brilliance of theistic philosophizing today, say something more similar to the non-theist Richard Gale [who says that]... ‘no definite conclusion can be drawn regarding the rationality of faith’
So, what does all this entail? Do the arguments for the existence of God prove that he exists beyond all doubt? Obviously not; for if they did, brilliant atheist philosophers, such as Quentin Smith, would no longer be atheists. The point is not that theistic arguments are somehow “air-tight” but rather that they are a LOT better than what the average atheist thinks they are.
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Video (below): Atheism vs Christianity Debate (with a twist) - The Campus Church
Reference
Quentin Smith and Council for Secular Humanism, “The Metaphilosophy of Naturalism,” Philo 4, no. 2 (2001): 195–215, https://doi.org/10.5840/philo20014216.