Back God Afrikaans Gott GSW Кудай ALT እግዚአብሔር Amharic Dios AN God ANG Awaji ANN ईश्वर ANP الله Arabic ܐܠܗܐ ARC

God

This article is about the supreme being in monotheistic belief systems. For powerful supernatural beings considered divine or sacred, see Deity. For God in specific religions, see Conceptions of God. For other uses, see God (disambiguation).

Left to right, top to bottom: representations of God in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoroastrianism, and Hinduism

In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith.[1] In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the universe or life, for which such a deity is often worshipped".[2] Belief in the existence of at least one deity, who may interact with the world, is called theism.[3]

Conceptions of God vary considerably. Many notable theologians and philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God.[4] Atheism rejects the belief in any deity. Agnosticism is the belief that the existence of God is unknown or unknowable. Some theists view knowledge concerning God as derived from faith. God is often conceived as the greatest entity in existence.[1] God is often believed to be the cause of all things and so is seen as the creator, sustainer, and ruler of the universe. God is often thought of as incorporeal and independent of the material creation,[1][5][6] which was initially called pantheism,[7][8][9] although church theologians, in attacking pantheism, described pantheism as the belief that God is the material universe itself.[10][11] God is sometimes seen as omnibenevolent, while deism holds that God is not involved with humanity apart from creation.

Some traditions attach spiritual significance to maintaining some form of relationship with God, often involving acts such as worship and prayer, and see God as the source of all moral obligation.[1] God is sometimes described without reference to gender, while others use terminology that is gender-specific. God is referred to by different names depending on the language and cultural tradition, sometimes with different titles of God used in reference to God's various attributes.

Results of a 2020 PhilPapers survey organized by philosophers David Chalmers and David Bourget demonstrated that approximately 67% of philosophers generally align with an atheistic view of God, while approximately 19% of philosophers generally align with a theistic view, and approximately 14% of philosophers align with other views.[12]

  1. ^ a b c d Swinburne, R. G. (1995). "God". In Honderich, Ted (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford University Press.
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  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Plantinga was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Bordwell, David (2002). Catechism of the Catholic Church. Continuum. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-860-12324-8.
  6. ^ "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Archived from the original on 3 March 2013. Retrieved 30 December 2016 – via IntraText.
  7. ^ Ann Thomson; Bodies of Thought: Science, Religion, and the Soul in the Early Enlightenment, 2008, page 54.
  8. ^ Raphson, Joseph (1697). De spatio reali (in Latin). Londini. p. 2.
  9. ^ Suttle, Gary. "Joseph Raphson: 1648–1715". Pantheist Association for Nature. Archived from the original on 7 April 2023. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  10. ^ Worman, J. H., "Pantheism", in Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Volume 1, John McClintock, James Strong (Eds), Harper & Brothers, 1896, pp. 616–624.
  11. ^ Worman cites Wegscheider, Institutiones theologicae dogmaticae, p. 250.
  12. ^ Bourget, David; Chalmers, David. "PhilPapers Survey 2020". PhilPapers Survey 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2025.
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