Claim: The Existence of God has been debated by René Descartes.

The existence of God is a subject of debate in the philosophy of religion , popular culture , and philosophy .   A wide variety of arguments for and against the existence of God can be categorized as metaphysical , logical , empirical , or subjective . In philosophical terms , the question of the existence of God involves the disciplines of epistemology -LRB- the nature and scope of knowledge -RRB- and ontology -LRB- study of the nature of being , existence , or reality -RRB- and the theory of value -LRB- since some definitions of God include `` perfection '' -RRB- .   The Western tradition of philosophical discussion of the existence of God began with Plato and Aristotle , who made arguments that would now be categorized as cosmological . Other arguments for the existence of God have been proposed by St. Anselm , who formulated the first ontological argument ; Ibn Rushd -LRB- Averroes -RRB- and Thomas Aquinas , who presented their own versions of the cosmological argument -LRB- the kalam argument and the first way , respectively -RRB- ; René Descartes , who said that the existence of a benevolent God is logically necessary for the evidence of the senses to be meaningful ; and Immanuel Kant , who argued that the existence of God can be deduced from the existence of good . Philosophers who have provided arguments against the existence of God include the aforementioned Kant , David Hume , Friedrich Nietzsche and Bertrand Russell . In modern culture , the question of God 's existence has been discussed by scientists such as Stephen Hawking , Francis Collins , Lawrence M. Krauss , Richard Dawkins and John Lennox , as well as philosophers including Richard Swinburne , Alvin Plantinga , William Lane Craig , Rebecca Goldstein , A. C. Grayling , Daniel Dennett , Edward Feser , David Bentley Hart and Sam Harris .   Scientists follow the scientific method , within which theories must be verifiable by physical experiment . On that basis , the question regarding the existence of God , for which evidence can not be tested , definitionally lies outside the purview of modern science . The Catholic Church maintains that knowledge of the existence of God is the `` natural light of human reason '' . Fideists acknowledge that belief in the existence of God may not be amenable to demonstration or refutation , but rests on faith alone . Atheism views arguments for the existence of God as insufficient , mistaken or weighing less in comparison to arguments against . Other religions , such as Buddhism , do not concern themselves with the existence of gods at all , while religions such as Jainism reject the possibility of a creator deity .