Reading authors from different centuries can lead to very timely reflections. I once read words of one christian author written between year 1200 and 1300. He posed a question: does idea of God unnecessary concept? He argument was that since Sum, rivers, animals, etc. on the one hand and human life on the other can be understand as resultants of natural causes or human actions, there is no need to postulate existence of God. He was probably guided by principle know to us as Occam’s razor, even if William of Ockham was not born yet. Don’t postulate existence of beings, if you don’t need them, because you can postulate the most wild and unreal things. He concluded that concept of God is in fact needed, since as many authors before him postulate, you can prove His existence just guided by human reason. He then add, this is the reason that Saint Paul can write in one of his letters, that gentiles of Roman Empire know about God everything that man can know without Revelation.
Proofs of God existence, that go out of philosophical fashion around XVI century, even if they never faded away totally, to note only time around 1870. But, this is another topic. What is important here is what author of this words probably understand, that putting question of God existence just as the matter of faith, make it open to strong criticism and even mockery, like in Bertrand Russell’s celestial teapot or closer to our time by flying spaghetti monster.
This problem was bring to me again, in different version by discusion (?) was started by David Wilson’s book Darwin’s Cathedral. I don’t have access to the book, but I can refer to things from this discussion that make me troubled. From what I understand, they postulate that God is “useful fiction”, no God or gods exists, but believe in them is by so reason evolutionary preferable. In this way they explained why concept of God or gods exists. Not because such beings exists, but because groups of peoples with religions are better adapted, for some reason, to natural environments. These is particular worrisome, while many Christians that I know are basing their faith on they faith alone. “You can’t prove existence of God, you can only believe in it.”
I’m not biologist, so I don’t know if this solid science with good arguments on it sides or elaborated hypothesis without solid grounding in arguments, at least at this moment. In the first cases, we will most probably faces problems that worried christian even before our current epoch of science begins, in the second case, whole problem can at least wait a while.
I will be glad if someone can direct me in this topic.
I glossed over my own opinion about what are the foundations of belief in God, since I don’t think they are important in this problem.