Is there any proof God exists?

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It depends on your standards of proof.

If you're an empiricist, then there is no proof, since empiricism requires consistently repeatable demonstrations of principles unique to God. Miracles on demand, for example; say a certain prayer the same way each time, and another person is resurrected or has a lost limb regenerated. Since this does not happen, then there is norepeatable demonstration, so there is no evidence for the existence of God.

If you're a believer, then any coincident event, whether repeatable or not, would be sufficient proof.

But if you're a true believer, then you need no proof at all, because belief itself is all of the proof that you need. To a True Believer, you can't believe in something if it doesn't exist, so it exists if you believe in it (an empiricist would call this "circular logic" or "self-referential proof", and dismiss it as proof due to logical being a logical fallacy).

An atheist would likely dismiss the question entirely, as it pre-supposes the existence of God before the proof is presented.

I'll believe it when I see it, which is kind of ironic since Christianity is all about "faith" and believing without evidence... Then again, if there is a god, I highly doubt it's Yahweh. It's probably a pantheon of some long-forgotten pagan gods.

Faith is the belief in unprovable things.

Religion is the socio-political expression of faith.

To each their own but I believe there is. In may I had a drug overdose and had 2 feet in the grave. I could not have made it out on my own.

<INSERT disjointed COLLAGE of WORDS here>

I want you to know that I have never read past the first line of any of your posts, nor am I likely to any time in the foreseeable future.

Fnord wrote:

While religion may provide a measure of social cohesiveness for primitive cultures, it's relevance as a social tool is likely less significant in a science- and reality-based society.

aghogday wrote:

I agree. However, it is evident that religion remains a social tool in non-egalitarian societies. Statistics provide evidence for this. While science is a significant part of Society in the US, it remains an overwhelmingly religious society.

Egalitarian societies in Europe have much lower rates of religious participation, but they also have far more social safety nets for their citizens, and National traditions for social cohesion. Evidently, many people in the US, find this in their religion.

There are many other potential reasons, but this is one that is clearly measurable.

Fnord Wrote:

No disagreement with this. It seems that the more altruistic, egalitarian, and socially-conscious a culture is, the less "need" there is for religion.

Religion is a form of mind control, using arbitrary doctrines to instill fear, to limit free thought, and to separate "Us" from "Them". These practices are antipathic to a progressive and free-thinking society.

When people are kept in a state of fear or anxiety, they are less likely to think clearly, and more likely to be controlled.

People should not be told what to think, but trained in methods of inquiry and reasoning instead. Religions do not encourage inquiry, unless it would expand on their particular mythologies, and a reasoning mind could easily find reason to discard religious doctrine as meaningless and un-necessarily restrictive.

Religious institutions may preach "Universal Fellowship", but the fine print always seems to define this as applicable only among like-minded believers. In truth, religions tend to divide the people against each other, based solely on apparent belief and public behavior. A person that asks questions, investigates claims, and proposes alternate concepts will soon find that his or her company is no longer sought by "true" believers, who will accuse the inquirer of everything from immoral behavior to mental illness.

In the current age, religious institutions may cause more harm than good.

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Okay, change "never" to "rarely ever".

Do you have to use so many capital letters? It's ridiculous and makes reading your posts uncomfortably tedious.

To the Christian, God is easily explained as transcendent, thus there is no need to prove that God exists. That God exists is axiomatic to our faith. So if we are able to reasonably conclude that there IS a God, there's no point in trying to prove what we already know.