On the existence and relevance of God

by Clement Dore

Chapter 1 presents and defends some versions of the ontological argument for the existence of God. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss the question of whether the existence of widespread suffering in the world is evidence that God does not, after all, exist. Chapter 3 concludes that it is not. This conclusion is based on the consideration, first expounded in Chapter 1, that if God exists then his non-existence is logically impossible. The author argues at length that empirical premises, such as the statement that suffering exists, are epistemically irrelevant to the question of whether a logically necessary being exists. In this connection, the author offers a novel interpretation of the Christian doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Vicarious Atonement. . In Chapters 4 and 5 the author argues that God is the foundation of morality. In Chapter 4 the author argues that only God can account for the overriding importance of morality, and in Chapter 5 he presents a theistic version of th