It begins with the physical and anthropological origins of religious behaviour and moves toward the theological essence of a Creator who, by definition, requires no sustenance from the created order.
Part I: The Origin of Faith – An Evolutionary and Anthropological Perspective
This foundation shows how faith is a deep-seated human phenomenon, grounded in our cognition and social evolution, rather than an arbitrary invention.
The Prerequisites in Human Development
Long before the specific concept of a monotheistic God, the capacity for faith was being forged. The human brain tripled in size over hundreds of thousands of years, with the neocortex expanding significantly. This growth is linked to our ability for complex social interaction, abstract thought, and symbolic communication – the very architecture required for religious ideas. The development of language provided the medium to share and transmit these spiritual concepts.
Evidence from the Archaeological Record
The search for the earliest spiritual acts often points to deliberate burials. Evidence, such as the 430,000-year-old remains at Sima de los Huesos in Spain, where 29 individuals were placed in a pit alongside a single handaxe, suggests ritualistic care for the dead and possibly an early concept of an afterlife. The presence of grave goods like ochre, shells, and flowers in later Neanderthal and early human burials further points to symbolic belief systems.
The Evolution of Religious Concepts
Phylogenetic studies of hunter-gatherer societies suggest a sequence in the development of religious traits. The most ancient and universal form appears to be animism – the belief that spirits inhabit natural phenomena. From this root emerged beliefs in an afterlife, shamanism, and ancestor worship. The concept of an active, moral “High God” or creator deity appears to be a later development that can emerge independently of other religious traits.
The Social Function of Faith
Faith served as a powerful cohesive and regulatory force. Rituals promoted trust and cooperation within groups, which was essential for survival. The belief in supernatural surveillance – that gods or spirits observe human actions – helped establish social norms, restrain selfishness, and build more cooperative societies.
Part II: The Divergence of Culture – How Faith Shapes Societies
The search results reveal that specific religious doctrines have had a profound and lasting impact on cultural psychology. A pivotal study highlighted that the medieval Catholic Church’s marriage policies, which prohibited marriage between even distant cousins (incest taboos), systematically dismantled large, tight-knit clan networks in Europe. Over centuries, this eroded the psychology of kinship-based loyalty and fostered the growth of the nuclear family.
This cultural shift is linked to the development of WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic) psychological traits, such as:
- Greater individualism and independence.
- Higher levels of trust and cooperation with strangers.
- Less conformity and obedience to in-group authority.
The research suggests that the duration of exposure to these medieval Church norms correlates with these psychological traits in modern populations, demonstrating how religiously-driven rules can fundamentally reshape a society’s character over the long term.
Part III: The Ontological Argument – The Nature of a Self-Existent Creator
This leads to the core of your directive: the logical and theological foundation for a Creator who is not contingent upon creation.
Resolving the “Infinite Regress”
The common challenge – “If God created the universe, who created God?” – is addressed by a foundational principle in classical theism: the necessity of an uncaused cause. The argument posits that an infinite chain of dependent causes is impossible; there must be a necessary, self-existent first cause that is the source of all else. By definition, this First Cause is uncreated and eternal.
Transcending Creation
The theological consensus across Abrahamic faiths is that God, as the Creator, is fundamentally distinct from creation. This is captured in the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo (creation from nothing). God did not craft the universe from pre-existing material but brought all matter, energy, space, and time into being from nothing. As such, the Creator is not part of the created system (transcendent) but is also intimately involved in sustaining it (immanent).
The Implication of Self-Existence
A being that is eternal, necessary, and the source of all existence is, by its nature, utterly self-sufficient. The creator possesses aseity (self-existence). The created universe, including humanity, is contingent and entirely dependent on the Creator for its existence and continued being. The notion that the Creator would “require” anything from the creation – whether for validation, sustenance (a “meal”), or existence – is a logical and theological impossibility. It confuses the dependent with the independent.
References
Wikipedia: Evolutionary origin of religion (Overview of cognitive and social prerequisites for religious belief)
Popular Archaeology: Finding the Roots of Religion in Human Prehistory (Archaeological evidence for early spirituality and burial practices)
PubMed Central: Hunter-Gatherers and the Origins of Religion (Phylogenetic study on the sequence of religious trait evolution)
Catholic Education Resource Center: New study in “Science”: Medieval Catholicism explains the differences between cultures to this day (Research on the long-term psychological impact of medieval Church kinship policies)
Wikipedia: Problem of the creator of God (Philosophical discussion on the uncaused cause and infinite regress)
McGrath Institute Blog: Faith and Science: Acknowledging God as the Creator (Theological exposition on creatio ex nihilo and God’s relationship to creation)
Liberty Church of Christ: Creator and Creation (Theological perspective on God’s transcendence and immanence)
Luke Nix Blog: Debunking the ‘Who Created God?’ Challenge (Apologetic argument addressing the logical necessity of an eternal first cause)
This argument moves from the observable fact of humanity’s universal religious impulse, through the historical shaping of cultures by faith, to the logical necessity of a Creator whose very nature precludes dependency. The creator does not rely on the thing created because the creator is the absolute source upon which all creation relies.
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Could we have some sense to all this now in 2026?
However hard the James Webb Telescope now looks or the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, no one appears to have found god yet!
Perhaps we could have someone of the calabre of Richard Dawkins to illustrate that there maybe no god, santa claus or other entity now remaining from the minds of primitive man!
I’ve been desribed as a weak Athiest. I still wonder:
Where did it all come From,
Why are we here,
And where is it all going?
I hope Richard Dawkins and others forgive me.
Möbius
“A being that is eternal, necessary, and the source of all existence …” is an interesting form of words. If you had said “the source of all (things) that exists” I wouldn’t push back (notice I didn’t say, disagree.) But “the source of all existence” asserts – or, at least, implies – that existence is created; that God precedes existence. I wonder what you would say about this line from my (as yet unpublished) manuscript: The one thing that I do know is that we exist; and that if there is a God, God is existence.
Dr Andrew; without any sense of disrespect for your good self, my 82 year journey leads me to believe that all religions and faith systems, as important as they are to the faithful, are never-the-less merely figments of human ingenuity and imagination that are at best mysterious. Whereas although I understand the historic origins of the notions expressed in part III, the explanation is merely word salad used to gloss over the fact that nobody can determine or verify the reasons for life or existence. Christopher Dawkins has his point of view however he is no more a prophet that any other who is recorded in history. Ultimately, there are those who believe what they are required to believe and there are those who believe what they prefer to believe.
There is no Easter Bunny, there is no Santa Clause, there is no tooth fairy and there is no f…ing God.
May God strike all of you down if I’m wrong…………..
For the best take on religion search “George Carlin… religion”