Is there a god?

Wow, that's quite a question.

I'm guessing you realise providing a full answer to this question is impossible. Greater men have tried and failed.

Our perceptions and empirical sciences states there is no proof either way. Psychological theory states that God comes hand in hand with Consciousness, some sort of defense mechanism of a primitive mind trying to make sense of it all, to provide Meaning. Brain scans have shown a particular region of the brain that "awakens" when people have spiritual experiences, nicknamed the "God Spot", almost as if God created us with a biological facility for belief.

And on the other hand, we have religion and faith, practiced by about 99 percent of the world's population, in some way or another. It is kind of hard to argue that such a large portion of the world is suffering from some sort of delusion. 

And God itself, how do you define God? Are you speaking of an all powerful being that created our world and continues to govern it? Or just an intelligent set of governing rules that apply to the universe, a higher force? 

My opinion? I do not think humanity needs a God figure in order to be spiritual. This is the last step before fully realising we are nothing more than a mass of smart molecules, but that doesn't mean we aren't spiritual. Transcedence is possible without an God figure.

This shouldn't stop at a mere question/answer. This should continue into a debate.  

TalSh's answer was a good one. Respectful and moving in the right direction.

I'd go further though and state categorically that there is no god. Why?

Scientific: Occam's razor - god is a an additional complication and un-necessary extension to the assumptions required to explain the world as we find it.

Moral: Belief in god has been the single greatest cause of human misery in the world. Any god worth the name would be ashamed to exist.u

Psychological: Every issolated tribe has felt the need to invent god as TalSh says. But this points to the psychological human need for authority and for meaning. The fact that the forms of these invetions of god are as diverse as the inventors supports a view that god does not exist.

Logical: God is the answer to the question "what is the meaning of life". But that question makes no sense. Meaning is a human construct. Why should life have meaning? If you insist that it does have meaning, then god is the only answer. The question pre-supposes the answer.

Subjective Reality: God does exist. We all have a part of our inner being that is pure, sane to whom we turn in crisis. Each of us has his own god, who is omnipotent in our own lives. But let's not make the mistake of externalising this entity and then start forcing others to believe in him. Along this road lies George Bush.

Yes, God exists.

Goodness, 384 views of this question so far, and I’m the first one to say it?

I can’t prove it to you, but I believe in God, and Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

It’s true many horrible things have been done in the name of religion.  It’s true many people would prefer to live in a world free of God.  It’s also true that beautiful things have been done in the name of religion (many religions).  And it’s true that many people crave God’s grace.

God Bless You!

Yes, there is.  Submit the following for your consideration.

The answer as to who he is, provided in his written word, which requires study.

Firstly, and not to start a flame war here, but very clearly 99% of the world do not believe in a god.  This is a fiction.  For a start China is communist and therefore wont believe in a god, not mention Japan or in fact anyone practicing Buddhism.

So, is there a god?  It depends what you mean and how you define such a question. 

If you mean, is there a white guy with a beard and a unnatural fixation for Jewish virgins and that you can take a deep breath and relax knowing in firm certainty that by believing one thing or another will set you up for the afterlife?; then no, probably not.

If you mean, some sort of super being that created the Universe (note caps on the U); then nobody knows for sure.  It is possible, but then so if everything you can imagine and quite a lot that you can not.  A great book for examining ideas about this is The Star Maker by Olaf Stapleton or perhaps the free online book "God's Debris" written by the Dilbert author Scott Adams.  They both show that when you get to a "power" of that "size" you could quite easily mistake it for a simple facet of nature or physics.

If however, you want cold hard scientific certainty or rigid philosophical arguments one way or the other, again nope.  Neither science nor Philosophy has successfully argued that there is or is not a god.  That is to say that arguments are in fact put forwards and laws formulated regarding standards of proof etc, but in the end they are only measuring what they know.  Not what they don't.  So here the answer is again "as far as we know" there isn't a God.  Why?  because of the lack of rigid evidence.

Edit for spelling. 

There is no proof that gods and goddesses exist, and there is no proof that they DON'T exist.

Religious texts authored by humans don't prove the existence of any god(s).

Asking the question if there is a God is analogous to asking, "Does my apple taste good?" You would probably reply, "How would I know?" My response to you would be, "One does not know of such things until he takes a bite for himself." Have you tasted the apple, eGrant? Have you tried to seek God for yourself? If you try hard enough, you will find Him. His name is Jesus and his biography is called the Bible. Try reading the New Testament and psalms and you will probably discover the answer to your question.

Good luck!

I guess the best anser to this question is:

Do you want there to be a god?

If so there is

If not then there isn't

I hope I helped you