Why The God Question?
WHY THE GOD QUESTION?
WHY THE GOD QUESTION?
People across the world deeply want to know the truth about God. The resources commissioned by Search for Truth Charitable Trust – through its subsidiary Search for Truth Enterprises Ltd – are designed as impartial ways of getting to grips with the arguments on both sides.
The need to investigate the God question emerges, we believe, for a number of important reasons.
God as Ultimate Explanation?
The God question is fundamentally important to the whole of life. Is God the ultimate cause of everything we see and know and are?
In ancient cultures, the gods seemed necessary explanations for phenomena that could not be explained by the limited scientific insight of those cultures. So in ancient Greece, for example, the relentless tumult of the sea was understood to be the anger of the sea god, Poseidon. Roman culture had its equivalents of the Greek pantheon of deities.
But in an age of science, such explanations are unnecessary. So in what sense would a deity be required to explain the world around us?
Some argue that a negative conclusion is very naive. The universe that supports our solar system is obedient to a number of laws that, amazingly, can be framed in the language of mathematics. Science has no explanation for such rationality – other than the possibility that our universe is the winner in a cosmic lottery. This of course is not a scientifically verifiable conclusion.
The mystery of the Big Bang itself appears to defeat scientific explanation. The planet on which we live, inexplicably, seems capable of reacting to many forms of self-regulation. The origin of life itself remains a deep mystery and the complexity of life forms on earth are admitted, even by atheists, to show 'appearance of design'. Atheists look to Darwin to unravel this phenomenon but deep mysteries remain.
The existence of mystery in itself does not establish the existence of God. Arguably, the term 'God' can be seen as a convenient euphemism for “we have no idea how to explain”. And who made God? Is it sufficient to say “God is the ultimate cause that needs no explanation”? The questions are highly significant and deep, requiring an equally significant investigation. Search for Truth Charitable Trust has made the enquiry its priority.
Why the Universality of Religion?
Religion..religion is it really everywhere? It is obvious from anthropology and sociology that religion, even in an age of science, is not - as has been predicted - in terminal decline. 84% of the world's population believes in a deity of some sort. Indeed some neuroscientists have pointed to the possibility of there being some hard wiring in the human brain that gives rise to a feeling of transcendence. That is not at all to say that God exists but does underline that somehow human beings have developed a mechanism that gives rise to a feeling of 'godness'.
But the world of religions is surely a mass of contradictions. Each one contradicts the theology of the other, suggesting perhaps that God is still some form of human invention. Each one of the world's religions could stake a claim to being the 'truth'. So which is right? Is one lot bound for heaven and the rest for hell?
It is obvious too that religions have a social function. They meet the needs of their adherents for human contact, community and forms of support, especially in times of crisis.
So do such explanations sufficiently provide a rationale for the existence of religions? Or do they exist as a human response to a deep seated sense that there truly is a creator? And if so, are the differences less significant than initially seems to be the case? What if religious forms and theologies are merely cultural expressions of an underlying universal search for truth about God? Across the world, people want to know the truth about religion and about God. Search for Truth resources are designed to help the enquiry in a non advocational way.
The Universe
Its beginning, its wonders and vastness as well as the fine tuning for life that benefits planet earth in the so called ‘Goldilocks Zone’ of the solar system that is home to a planet uniquely friendly to living beings. A space adventure that astonishes, educates and asks the big question ‘why’?
Life
- and the wonders of its many forms. Drawing on the most up-to-date understanding of how life functions and develops, the mysteries of existence are explored in the context of asking ‘why’?
Mind & Brain
- the power and capacity of human beings to understand, reflect, predict, create and experience life - including its religious and spiritual dimensions. Through exploring the powerful centre of human intelligence, questions are asked about the origins of spiritual experience. Even out-of body-experiences are tested against the questions ‘how’ and ‘why’?