God of the gaps

"God of the gaps" is a term used by atheists and scientists to disparage the belief that science cannot explain everything. Atheists argue that saying "God did it" as a response to every mystery is an ineffective argument. It should be noted that Gödel's incompleteness theorems has effectively established that science really can't explain everything; therefore, accusing believers of having a God of gaps is not in accordance with scientific principle.

Christian responses to God of the gaps argument

• Whose god? The theological response to the god-of-the-gaps by Lael Weinberger
• The Gaps in 'The God of the Gaps' by Brian Thomas, M.S.

Intelligent design response to the God of the gaps argument

Intelligent design (ID) is the empirically testable theory that the natural world shows signs of having been designed by a purposeful, intelligent cause. As Jonathan Wells wrote, "ID ... asserts only that some features of living things are better explained by an intelligent cause than by unguided processes."

ID response to the God of the gaps argument

• Is ID a "god-of-the-gaps" argument? - Idea Center

Unreasonable atheists and the God of the gaps argument

See also: Atheism and evidence and Atheism and miracles

The Shadow To Light blog declares:

“

When someone like Greene comes to you demanding “actual, credible, real world evidence of this god,” there are three simple questions you can ask to expose the sham nature of the inquiry and thus defeat the backdoor attempt to “validate atheism.” Question 1: What would you count as “actual, credible, real world evidence for God?” If the atheist refuses to answer, he/she will be exposed as Hiding the Goalpost, demonstrating the inherent intellectual dishonesty in such a demand. If the atheist finally answers, there is a very, very high likelihood he/she will cite some dramatic, miraculous, sensational demonstration of God’s power. And that leads to the second question. Question 2: Why would that dramatic, miraculous, sensational event count as evidence for God? At this point, the atheist will likely try to change the topic. But persist with the question. What you will find is that the reason why the atheist would count such an event as evidence for God is because it could not possibly be explained by natural causes and science. In other words, because it was a Gap. Modern day atheism is built on God of the Gaps logic. At this point, you can ask the third question. Question 3: Is the God of the Gaps reasoning a valid way of determining the existence of God? If the atheist has not bailed on you yet, he/she will likely run now. For if he/she answers NO, then it will become clear that nothing can count as evidence for the existence of God. Why? Because if the only “evidence” the atheist “Judge/Jury” will allow in his/her kangaroo court is a Gap (something that cannot be explained by science/natural law), and God-of-the-Gaps reasoning is also not allowed by the atheist, then it is clear the atheist demand for evidence is a sneaky, dishonest game of “heads I win, tails you lose.”... Bonus question: I’ll provide evidence for God’s existence, but can you first provide evidence that you are capable of considering my evidence in an open- and fair-minded.

”

See also

• Falsifiability