Is it possible to prove or disprove God’s existence? Arguments for the existence of God have taken many different forms over the centuries: in The Non-Existence of God, Nicholas Everitt considers the best of the contemporary arguments, and examines the role that reason and knowledge play in the debate over God’s existence. Everitt’s conclusion is that there is a sense in which God’s existence is disprovable, and that even in other senses a belief in God would be irrational.
The Non-Existence of God is a balanced and sophisticated evaluation of theistic arguments. The author makes the case that the existence of the tri-omni God has empirically verifiable consequences and that taken together, absence of evidence for God’s existence and evidence of God’s absence render God’s existence highly improbable. Everitt further demonstrates that many of God’s traditional attributes (e.g., omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, omnibenevolence) when considered in conjunction, show God’s existence to be self-contradictory and hence that God’s existence is not only improbable (given evidential considerations), but is impossible (given logical considerations). Everitt also considers possible theistic rebuttals to atheistic critiques and exposes their weaknesses.
This well-written and carefully argued book is highly recommended both to theists who wish to challenge their faith by the fire of reason, as well as to nonbelievers, who will gain greater sophistication in their arguments for the nonexistence of God.