Does God Exist?
Is There Evidence That God Exists?
Perhaps, like the older generation, you have assumed that most people believed in the God of the Bible. That was true in the 1950s[1], but by the 1970s, currents were swirling about God’s existence. In the 50s, to question God’s existence would have been heresy, in the 70s it was an uneasy thing to think about, but in 2020 it wasn’t worth a glance. What we had all believed was now suspect for many. Don McLean captured this in his American Pie. One stanza reads, “Did you write the book of love, And do you have faith in God above, if the Bible tells you so? Do you believe in rock and roll? Can music save your mortal soul? And, can you teach me how to dance real slow?” The lyrics are worth reading. They are prescient.
As we begin the 21st century, we see that it is a different world. Fifty years ago, 97% of Americans believed in God; thirty years ago, in 1990, 73% of Americans believed in God, while today, in 2020, only 51% of Americans believe in a biblical view. A rapid and sudden downturn in the number of people who believe in the God of the Bible has occurred. Americans are now recreating God in their image or outright rejecting Him.
The change is fascinating and has led to some interesting statistics. Amazingly, Satan is more real in people’s minds than God. Barna’s survey shows that 56% of American adults believe in Satan, while only 49% of adults are confident that God even exists![2] Given the large number rejecting God’s existence, it is not surprising to find that 52% of adults believe the Holy Spirit is not a living being but a symbol of God’s power or purity.
Like the mortality numbers of a disease, the youngest and the oldest Americans lost faith in God. In the last thirty years, the percentage of those 18 to 29 who believed in it declined by 26%. Likewise, the number of the oldest American believers born before 1946 declined by 25%. Among women, the percentage of believers also declined by 25%. Interestingly, the largest drop was seen in those attending Pentecostal or charismatic churches, where the loss of belief was 27%. Only among those with incomes 20% above the national average was a modest increase of 2% seen.
In place of a traditional belief in God, skepticism toward God’s existence is increasing. Thirty years ago, only 1% of people would claim God might not or does not exist. Today, that has become 20% of American adults. Only half of American adults hold a traditional view of God as the one who created and controlled the universe, a God who is omnipotent, omniscient, and just—a God of love and perfection. Of the remaining half of American adults, we find that 20% hold an agnostic view of God. We cannot know for sure God exists. 10% see God in a more mystical sense, where God is found in realizing man’s higher potential and achieving higher consciousness. 6% of American adults are atheists. 4% are polytheistic, and 3% are pantheistic. The last 6% are unsure of what they think about the concept of God.
Those who tend towards embracing the traditional view of God are conservative or Republican, have college educations and an above-average income and live in the South. Conversely, those who trend away from a traditional view of God are atheists, agnostics, those with no religious affiliations, political liberals, those 18 to 29 years old, and those self-identifying as LGBTQ.
Of those who believe in the traditional view of God, only 36% felt they could be sure God existed. 57% believed it was impossible to be sure about God’s presence. They believed it was a faith issue, not an issue of evidence.
It seems clear that those basic spiritual truths taken for granted for centuries are no longer accepted. In many cases, people no longer know anything about them. This is in part because of the change in the focus of Americans. In the past, people were concerned and thought about God. There was a concern to know the answers to life’s big questions. The culture is self-absorbed, and people are interested in entertainment and self-gratification. The big questions don’t get asked, let alone answered. We are entertaining ourselves into oblivion. Moral issues no longer trouble us. There are no absolute morals. You only live once.
Who is right? What is the truth? Is there any evidence for the existence of God? During this tumultuous time, it has become embarrassingly apparent that the Church has failed to educate its members about many different and necessary truths. As a result, young people do not have a strong faith and are at risk when challenged about their faith. Those who have left the church blame the church for not answering their questions, and those who deconvert claim that they were never given the reasons that they should have faith. They believe the Church does not have answers to the questions that must be asked. As an experiment, ask some of your Christian friends the reasons for their faith. You may find that many cannot defend their faith other than to say they were raised to believe what they believe.
As Christians, it is important to consider whether there is enough evidence to support our belief system. We want to follow the truth wherever it leads us. In the next section, with one exception, we are looking for evidence that is not emotional or experiential but instead is factual. We cannot “prove” God exists, nor can anyone “prove” he does not exist. Our goal is to see if there is adequate evidence to make a strong case for the existence of God.
[1] David Johnson, “Is God Dead”, Time Magazine, April 7, 2016 accessed August 24, 2020 at https://time.com/4283975/god-belief-religion-americans/ In this article reviewing the famous 1970 article by the same name, it was noted that a survey by Lou Harris in 1965 found that 97% of Americans believed in God.
[2] George Barna, “Perceptions of God: Americans Continue to Redefine – and Reject – God”, American Worldview Inventory 2020 April 21, 2020, accessed August 24, 2020 at https://www.arizonachristian.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CRC-AWVI-2020-Release-03_Perceptions-of-God.pdf