Naturalism, Realism and the Existence of God

For centuries, many people, among many cultures and belief systems have argued about the existence of God. There are many different lines of thinking when it comes to the whether or not God really exists. Two schools of thought, that are polar opposites of each other are naturalism and realism. In realism, there is no God that controls nature. Ivan Karamazov, a noted naturalist explained his belief in one brief statement: “If God did not exist, everything would be permitted.” By this, according to Richard Harries, Karamazov means that “morality belongs to us as human beings.” There is no real need for God to govern our morality because humans make that determination. More religious people, who do believe in God, can also determine morality but see it as a part of a much bigger picture, God’s picture (Harries, 2007).

At the other end of the spectrum, realists insist that there is a God and our moral system is based His commands. (Swan, 2006)

When it comes to nature, naturalists, as already mentioned, believed that there is no God, or at the very least, if there is a God, He has no effect on nature. In “Naturalism: A World View”, author L. Russ Bush III wrote, “Nature is dynamic and active, but according to the new world view known as “naturalism”, there is nothing beyond nature that has any causal influence or effect upon nature.”

According to naturalists, Earth’s life forms came from “natural substances by natural selection for natural ends.” Spiritual objects and beings, such as Gods are either simply illusions or the manifestation of many natural substances.

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In the naturalists’ way of thinking, events in nature are of a “survival of the fittest” nature. Events are random, but the stronger actions and processes win out over the weaker ones. (Bush, 2003).

Carl Sagan, a well-known astronomer and naturalist once said "The universe: all that was, all that is, all that there will ever be." With this statement, he simply meant that...