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00:00 Statistics show that around 80% of the global population follow or at least associate with
00:05 some form of religion. In many of those, there's either a pantheon of gods and deities to worship,
00:11 or there's one supreme being above all, the god, who's usually responsible for creating
00:17 everything in the universe. But then, and especially if that last part is true,
00:22 then isn't there a pretty big problem to work out? This is Unveiled, and today we're answering
00:28 the extraordinary question; Who Created God? Do you need the big questions answered? Are you
00:35 constantly curious? Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
00:39 And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
00:41 How many people believe in God? It's a simple question but with a complex answer,
00:48 because God means different things depending on who you ask and how you ask it as well.
00:53 According to a 2022 poll by the US analytics company Gallup, 81% of Americans answer "yes"
01:00 when asked directly "do you believe in God?". However, past polls have shown that whenever
01:05 there are more options available, that seemingly steadfast belief drops. For example, a 2017 poll
01:12 gave five options, enabling takers to choose whether they were "convinced that God exists",
01:18 whether they thought God probably exists but with a little doubt, God probably exists but
01:23 with a lot of doubt, God probably doesn't exist but they're not sure, or whether they were convinced
01:29 that God does not exist. Under those conditions, the percentage choosing the first option,
01:34 "convinced that God exists", came in lower at 64%. And again, that was in 2017. Almost all
01:42 studies show that belief in God in general has continuously fallen in recent years, so those
01:48 numbers would likely drop further today. And of course, if the same questions were asked in
01:52 different countries, or on a global scale, then the results would almost certainly be significantly
01:57 different again. In America, the majority religion is Christianity, a monotheistic system with the
02:04 one God at the top of it. But in China, the most populous nation in the world, the majority of
02:09 people subscribe to traditional Chinese folk religion or are atheists. In India, the second
02:15 most populous nation on Earth, the majority religion is Hinduism, a polytheistic system
02:20 with multiple gods to follow. Clearly, the question "do you believe in God?" doesn't mean
02:25 the same thing to everyone. However, and with a monotheistic figure especially, there are some
02:30 seemingly fundamental debates as to whether or not God exists. For one, is God really good? We took a
02:37 closer look at this in another video, and that episode follows this one, so be sure to stick
02:42 around. But for now, the other big sticking point is… who created God? In most monotheistic
02:49 traditions, God created the universe. At first, there was nothing and then there was something,
02:54 all thanks to God. But if God was around to make all of this possible, then who or what made God
03:01 possible? This seeming paradox is known as the "problem of the creator God". And for those who
03:07 use it to question or deny God, it then ultimately leads us into another problem known as an infinite
03:13 regress. This is a situation in which a series of circumstances are directly linked and governed by
03:19 whatever comes before and after, continuing on and on forever. So, if God created the universe,
03:25 then what created God? If X created God, then what created X? If Y created X, then what created Y?
03:32 There are other examples of infinite regress in practice, such as Aristotle's "paradox of place",
03:38 which says that if everything has a place, then all of those places have a place, too… which
03:43 then also have a place, and so on, and so on. It's how you may have imagined your address as a child.
03:50 You might have said that you lived in the universe, then the galaxy, then the solar system,
03:56 then Earth, then your country, your city, neighbourhood, road, your bedroom, etc. It's
04:02 also something like seeing yourself reflected in two mirrors positioned opposite one another.
04:07 The image of your face goes on and on and on. But taking it back to the problem of God,
04:12 and while many atheists and philosophers don't buy it, those who believe in God also say that
04:18 the counter-argument is quite simple. God is what's known as "the first cause". This, again,
04:23 links back to the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who mused that eventually there must
04:28 be what he termed an "unmoved mover". This is something that affects something else, but is not
04:33 affected by anything itself. For believers, with regard to the universe and everything that's in
04:38 it, this is God. God is the unmoved mover, the first or primary cause, responsible for everything
04:45 but the result of nothing. For those arguing against the existence of God, this is often
04:50 received as something of a cop-out. God as the first cause doubles up as saying God just is.
04:56 But why and how could that be, they ask? Aristotle seemingly delivered an answer, to some degree,
05:02 further suggesting that an unmoved mover - in this case, God - would have to exist in some
05:07 kind of void, outside of time, space and place. From there, it's a relatively easy jump to the
05:13 ethereal, all-permeating presence that many view God to be. In general, many theists argue that
05:19 to try to impose universal laws onto God - i.e., to suggest that God must be created because
05:25 everything else is - is redundant from the outset. God made the laws of the universe, but is not and
05:30 never has been limited by those laws. Perhaps this can be viewed in the same way as a video
05:35 game developer is never held to the rules that they create inside the game. They exist on a
05:40 higher plane, as does God in relation to the universe. And on that higher plane, even the
05:45 concept of creation perhaps just isn't needed. Then again, some religions just sidestep the
05:51 problem entirely. In Buddhism, for example, there is no creator God. Most Buddhist figures are not
05:57 quite so far removed from humankind. They're more like higher, exalted versions of us. Examples to
06:04 follow, but examples that are still guided by the same or similar physical realities. That said,
06:10 there are aspects of and versions of Buddhism that do rely heavily on their being transcendence to
06:15 higher planes. But, for those who break out of the circle of life and death to reach nirvana,
06:21 it's something that should come to be known. This is never really the case in most monotheistic
06:26 religions. While some believe that you might enter heaven in the afterlife, and perhaps even exist
06:31 alongside God, there is always an unshakable hierarchy that God is at the top of. Part of
06:38 faith is accepting that. But what's your verdict? Clearly, this is a question that could be answered
06:43 in a number of ways. At its core is the belief, or doubt, that if God created everything, then
06:48 doesn't something need to have existed beforehand to create the creator? And then something before
06:53 that to create the creator-creator? The resulting infinite regress is the ultimate cosmic rabbit
06:59 hole, and it's easy to get lost in. However, the counter-argument says that, actually,
07:04 trying to imagine God in this way is pointless. God made the rules that we're trying to get them
07:09 to "fit in with", but God really exists beyond those rules. If the universe is a melting pot,
07:15 then God is simply the one that's stirring it. It's a debate that quickly gives rise to various
07:20 other fundamental questions, however, because in most representations of God, they're shown to be
07:26 all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful, and always good. So, if the universe were a melting pot,
07:32 then all that's inside it should work flawlessly. And yet, just on our tiny world, planet Earth,
07:38 we see time and time again that that seemingly isn't the case. Bad things happen, over and over
07:44 and over again, so what gives? Does God just sometimes get the ingredients wrong? Perhaps,
07:50 but then they wouldn't be all-knowing. Does God just sometimes lose control of their creation?
07:55 Maybe, but then they wouldn't be all-powerful. We take a closer look at this and more in the
08:00 next episode that follows directly from this one, titled "What If God Is Evil?" So, don't click off,
08:07 stick around, and keep pondering the big questions, because for now, that's Who Created God?
08:13 What do you think about when you think about God? If you were to meet them, what would you say to
08:18 whatever it was you were meeting? And what would happen if God was actually not what you expected
08:23 them to be? This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the extraordinary question; what if God
08:29 is evil? Do you need the big questions answered? Are you constantly curious? Then why not subscribe
08:36 to Unveiled for more clips like this one? And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
08:40 There are eight billion people on Earth, and the majority of them follow some form of religion,
08:46 to some extent. Not everyone is super strict about their faith, and for many it's only a tiny part
08:51 of who they are. But statistically, more people than not at least associate with a belief system.
08:57 Most religions are polytheistic; they're built around more than one divine being. But some,
09:02 and some of the most widely followed, like Christianity and Islam, are monotheistic,
09:07 meaning that over and above all else, there is just one God. A monotheistic God is the absolute
09:13 supreme being, the creator and ruler of everything there is. Omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent,
09:19 all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-seeing. Some would also list a fourth descriptor here though,
09:24 omnibenevolent, meaning that God is always good. But maybe that's a bit of a problem.
09:31 Distheism is the philosophical opposite to the belief in a good God. Distheists argue that
09:36 actually God isn't good, and some would even go so far as to say that God is evil. There are levels
09:42 at play though, and at the lower ends there are countless examples, in polytheistic traditions
09:48 especially. Such as in the pantheon of Old Norse, where there are many trickster gods,
09:53 with the most famous being Loki, who's a shapeshifter that can never truly be trusted.
09:58 Meanwhile, and though there is no one God in Old Norse, there is Odin, a creator God and an
10:04 extremely influential figure. Odin is famously difficult to pin down, however, and is often
10:09 described as being neither good nor evil. He bridges between the two, but is certainly capable
10:15 of merciless and arguably evil acts. With a monotheistic God, the view that God is evil
10:20 strikes much more directly at the heart of that belief system. For those who subscribe to it,
10:26 it's blatant blasphemy. But that didn't bother the 19th century Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin.
10:32 In Bakunin's unfinished work, God and the State, published posthumously in 1882,
10:37 he sets out his stall against essentially all types of hierarchy, starting with God.
10:42 Channeling the 18th century French philosopher Voltaire, who said "if God didn't exist,
10:47 it would be necessary to invent him", Bakunin writes "if God really did exist, it would be
10:52 necessary to abolish him". Bakunin saw what many label as "God's will" as really being absolute
10:59 oppression. Again, in God and the State, he describes the concept of God as being, quote,
11:04 "the most decisive negation of human liberty, and one that necessarily ends in the enslavement of
11:09 mankind in theory and practice", end quote. He saw religion as indoctrination and God as
11:15 authoritarian, and relentlessly campaigned against both. As well as a dystheist, we might reasonably
11:21 describe Bakunin as a misotheist, as one who harbours a hatred for God. More broadly, those
11:27 who simply question God often do so through a couple of influential philosophical quandaries;
11:32 the problems of evil and hell. The problem of evil is the more all-encompassing of the two,
11:38 and asks, "how can it be that God exists, given that there is also evil and suffering?"
11:43 What's usually referred to as the "logical problem of evil" dates back to Ancient Greece
11:48 and the philosopher Epicurus. Epicurus argued that if evil can exist, then God could not;
11:54 because if evil does exist, then God either isn't all-powerful, or isn't always good.
11:59 I.e., both traits should combine together to mean that evil cannot happen, so if evil does happen,
12:05 then God isn't there. Alongside that, the evidential problem of evil essentially asks,
12:10 "why do bad things happen? Why do innocent children develop horrible diseases, or encounter
12:15 terrible violence? Why do animals suffer, both at the hands of humans and in the wild? Why do
12:21 thousands of people die in natural disasters every year, in events that are otherwise known as 'acts
12:27 of God'? Does the real-world existence of all of that actually imply that, yes, God is evil?"
12:32 There have been defences put forward, including one of the most often cited, that evil is a
12:37 consequence of free will, and that free will is a gift from God. But so far, there's no single
12:43 agreed-upon resolution. The problem of hell is something of an offshoot from the problem of evil,
12:48 and is much more specific. It asks, "how can hell exist, if God is all the things that God's
12:53 supposed to be?" The monotheistic God is just, forgiving, and again, omnibenevolent, and yet,
13:00 is also responsible for human souls tormented forever in the fires of damnation?
13:05 The distheist argument might be that, no matter your view on the concept of hell, and on who and
13:10 what deserves to be there, the fact that God keeps it open and running is wholly at odds with the
13:15 general notion of God's supreme goodness. There are some related arguments, too, that if God did
13:21 create everything, and if everything does include evil and wickedness, then why would God then
13:26 punish forever the souls and circumstances that God created? Again, there are some defences put
13:32 forward, and again, many refer back to free will, suggesting that hell is ultimately a choice,
13:37 rather than an inescapable punishment. There have also been some reinterpretations of hell,
13:42 where it isn't eternal, and the damned can be retrieved by the grace of God. Although,
13:47 distheism might say that that in itself implies a God that's manipulative, brutal, tyrannical,
13:52 etc. The Evil God Challenge is another related thought experiment, developed by the British
13:57 philosopher Stephen Law. The challenge itself is to show that an omnipotent God really is more
14:03 likely to be always good. For many, the quick and stark realisation is that it could be just as easy
14:08 for God to be all the things they're supposed to be - all powerful, all knowing, and all seeing - but
14:13 be always bad, instead. This anti-God would be better described as "omnimanevolent", with the
14:19 implication being that everything under its gaze is put there and controlled solely for the purposes
14:24 of evil, rather than good. The anti-God can also be challenged in much the same way as the standard
14:29 God can be, though. Why is there love and laughter, colour and vibrance? On the one hand,
14:35 is it the riches of life that make the low points so unbearable, and so by providing them would the
14:40 anti-God simply be giving us more to lose? But on the other, if evil were the sole aim,
14:46 then why give any respite? Why allow for any happy moments at all? And similarly, why is there a
14:52 heaven in the afterlife? Many of the same rebuttals to a good God can seemingly be made to an evil one,
14:58 just at the opposite end of the scale. Nevertheless, the fact remains that for literally
15:02 billions of people around the world, it's important to have faith in God. Despite all of the challenges
15:07 of life, and all the very clear evils that we see and know, human culture says that God is good.
15:14 For some, that in itself is the final straw; that God has been so successful in dodging blame or
15:19 criticism for everything that's wrong. Again, an act of God is a natural disaster not caused by
15:25 humankind. But for dystheists, misotheists, and for those who argue against God, there are other,
15:31 similar everyday phrases that have become baked in but aren't questioned. God's will is a reason
15:37 for anything that doesn't make sense, sometimes innocently enough, but often to explain away
15:42 something bad. In some religions, followers are described as "God-fearing". They're scared of
15:47 retribution if they don't toe the line. There's original sin, after eating from the tree of
15:52 knowledge. But is that part of a religious storytelling that specifically warns away
15:57 from seeking the truth? A miracle is something to be thankful for, of course, but it's also,
16:01 at its core, simply something that is unexpectedly good. The implication being that humans have come
16:07 to expect the worst in this world that God has created. "God forbid" goes against freedom. If
16:13 you think you're God's gift, you're misguided. When we're told that "God works in mysterious ways",
16:18 it's a kind of catch-all excuse. For the likes of Mikhail Bakunin, these are more than just
16:23 throwaway catchphrases; they're all reasons to be concerned. So, what if God is evil? It's clearly
16:30 a controversial question, but it's also something that has been asked time and time again. For those
16:36 who have faith, even to contemplate such a thought might be reason enough to wind up in hell or to
16:42 invoke God's wrath. But every human being has a different point of view. In the context of this
16:49 video, that's the way God made us. So, what's yours? What do you think about the philosophical
16:55 questions and thought experiments we've covered? About Bakunin's call to abolish God? And about
17:00 the anti-God in the Evil God Challenge? Again, there are eight billion people on Earth,
17:05 and the majority associate with a religion. But there are still some who choose to buck
17:11 that global trend. What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments,
17:16 check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell
17:20 for our latest content.