Is there no God?

Is There No God?

By Don Brown

On Monday, January 12, 2009, the CBC National News reported that posters proclaiming “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” were being displayed on 30 buses throughout London, England for four weeks.

The atheist posters are the idea of the British Humanist Association (BHA) and have been supported by prominent atheist, Professor Richard Dawkins. The purpose of the campaign is to provide alternative slogans to the Christian posters on the buses in order to make people think. In BHA’s view “thinking is anathema to religion”.

The question of the existence of God has challenged philosophers and great thinkers throughout the ages. God’s existence is clearly proclaimed in all the great religions, however, this has not satisfied many people who have searched for an independent, “scientific” proof of the existence of God.

In recent years, this challenge was taken on by mathematician/philosopher and member of the Bahá’í Faith, Professor William S. Hatcher (1935-2005). No doubt, one of the motivations for Dr. Hatcher to scientifically prove God’s existence is in response to one of the fundamental principles of the Bahá’í Faith: “…that religion must be in harmony with science and reason. If it does not conform to science and reconcile with reason, it is superstition.” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 455)

Dr. Hatcher developed a clear, and in my view, indisputable proof of the existence of God utilizing first order logic. He bases his proof on four scientifically provable metaphysical principles. Following is a paraphrased, simplified description of these principles and the application of these principles to prove God’s existence. A much more complete and technical discussion is presented in Dr. Hatcher’s book, “Minimalism: A Bridge between Classical Philosophy and the Bahá’í Revelation.” The four principles are:

Principle 1 (P1): We define Reality (V) as the sum of all existence, material and non-material. Every entity, or phenomenon, past, present or future taken together makes up Reality. In mathematical terms this can be stated as Reality (V) is the composite of everything.

Principle 2 (P2) Nothing exists without a reason, either within itself, that is, self-caused; or it owes its existence to something else, that is, its existence is caused by something other than itself, but not both. Therefore, all phenomena are either self-caused (B→B: B causes B) or other-caused (A→B: A causes B, and A is not equal to B, A≠B) but not both.

Principle 3 (P3): If A causes B then A is the cause of every part of B. In other words if A causes B (A→B), and B is composed of elements C (C1+C2+C3…=B) then A causes all the elements C of B (A→C).

Principle 4 (P4): A composite A cannot be the cause of one of its own components. For example, a car (the composite) cannot be the cause of its own steering wheel (a part), because the car does not logically exist until the steering wheel exists. Thus the car’s existence cannot precede the steering wheel’s existence. Note that this does not negate the possibility that a component can cause the whole composite.

Utilizing these scientifically logical principles, Hatcher definitively proves the existence of God.

First: The Reality V as defined by Principle P1, which is a composite of everything, cannot be self-caused, that is V cannot cause V because by Principle P4, the composite V cannot cause any of its components, therefore Reality V must be other-caused, that is caused by something else. In fact this demonstrates that no composite phenomenon can be self-caused. Therefore V is caused by some phenomenon G, (G→V where G≠V).

Second: Every phenomenon is either a component or subsystem of V as per the definition V being all reality. Therefore G is a component of V and G causes V: G→V. As defined in Principle P3, since G causes all of V, then it must cause itself as part of V; that is G→G, therefore G is self-caused.

Third: G is a single entity rather than a composite with parts because if G had some component C, then according to Principle P3 it would be the cause of its part G→C which contradicts Principle P4 which states a composite cannot be the cause of any of its parts. Therefore, G is a self-caused, single, entity.

Fourth: Since G causes V (G→V) and every phenomenon B is a part of V, therefore by Principle P3, G causes all the components of V that is G→B. Therefore G is a self-caused, single, universal entity that is the cause of all of V.

Fifth: If it is assumed that there is another self-caused phenomenon D i.e. D→D then because G has already been shown to be the universal cause of V, then G must also be the cause of D (G→D). But since, according to Principle P2, a phenomenon cannot be both self-caused and other-caused, therefore G must be D. Therefore G is the self-caused, single, universal, unique entity.

Finally, Hatcher introduces one more metaphysical principle, Principle P5: If A causes B (A→B) then the value of A (i.e. the properties of A) must be greater or equal to the value of B (A ≥B). This principle states that a lower thing cannot be the cause of a higher thing: only something of equal or higher value can be the cause of a given entity. Since human beings are phenomenon of Reality V and humans are conscious beings, therefore G must be a conscious being. G is the self-caused, single, universal, unique, conscious being with all the properties of creation to an infinite degree.

This definition of G is the definition of God, the Creator found in all the world religions. One of the many quotations from the Bahá’í Sacred Writings on this subject states:

Existence is of two kinds: one is the existence of God which is beyond the comprehension of man. He, the invisible, the lofty and the incomprehensible, is preceded by no cause but rather is the Originator of the cause of causes. He, the Ancient, hath had no beginning and is the all-independent. The second kind of existence is the human existence. It is a common existence, comprehensible to the human mind, is not ancient, is dependent and hath a cause to it. The mortal substance does not become eternal and vice versa; the human kind does not become a Creator and vice versa… (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 61)

This proof of God is based on first-order logic and it does not require a leap of faith or an “individual spiritual experience.” To disprove this proof, requires disproving one or more of the metaphysical principles. The more one delves into these principles using science, philosophy or mathematics, the more evident it is that these principles are logical and sound. Careful reflection and thought on these principles also verifies their validity and the truth that God exists.

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