Atheists often pose the question, “Who created God?” or, in another variation, “Who designed the Designer?” However, as we will see, this question is inherently flawed.
One of the main arguments atheists present against the existence of an Intelligent Designer, such as God, is that He would, in turn, require a creator Himself.1 Why do atheists reach this conclusion? According to their reasoning, God would be far more complex than the world He created. Therefore, a complex God would also need to be created by a being even more complex than Himself. That being, in turn, would require creation by yet another, even more complex entity, and so on.
In other words, atheists argue that this would result in an infinite chain of increasingly complex “deities.” Additionally, the scientific consensus suggests that the universe and life have organized themselves through natural processes, ultimately giving rise to intelligent human beings. In this view, atheists maintain that our world evolved from the ground up, without the need for a plan of creation. According to Ockham’s Razor,2 not only is God unnecessary, but His existence is also unlikely.
If God Doesn’t Exist, How Does the Universe Exist?
Atheists conclude that if no evidence supports the existence of a complex deity, humans must have fabricated the concept in their minds. However, atheism encounters a significant challenge: why does the universe exist in the first place? This leads to the issue of the “first cause.” While scientists have proposed numerous theories regarding the universe’s origin, the most widely accepted is the Big Bang theory, which posits a singularity from which the universe emerged 13.8 billion years ago.
The question remains: where did this singularity originate, allowing our universe to come into existence? Some scientists attempt to address this by suggesting the presence of a black hole in another universe, thereby supporting the idea of a multiverse. Others attempt to bypass this issue altogether by proposing theories such as the cyclic model, in which the universe collapses and regenerates in an ongoing cycle,3 or the Hartle-Hawking model, which suggests that “the universe spontaneously arose from nothing”.4
Perhaps God Is Necessary After All?
However, each of these hypotheses has inherent weaknesses that effectively disqualify them. These hypotheses can be divided into two broad categories. Some propose that matter and energy, in all their forms, are eternal—lacking any origin. Yet, how can we account for the mere fact of their eternal existence? This question becomes even more significant when we consider that scientific evidence has demonstrated the universe’s expansion is accelerating, rather than decelerating. Such evidence directly contradicts the oscillating universe theory.5
The other theories posit that the entire universe of particles emerged spontaneously, without any cause. This, however, contradicts the law of conservation of energy, which asserts that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. In other words, a photon cannot simply appear from nothing or vanish entirely (unless endowed with divine power). As a result, none of these theories adequately explain the origin of the universe, space, time, matter, energy, life, and so on. The cause of both the universe and life cannot have been natural.6
Does this imply that the universe must have been created by a divine Intelligent Designer? In one sense, atheists are correct in suggesting that one designer would need to be created by a more complex designer. However, they mistakenly assume that this would lead to an infinite chain of increasingly complex designers. As humans, we are capable of conceiving of an absolutely perfect being in its essence. If such a perfect being exists, no intermediate designers are necessary. According to Ockham’s razor,7 it is sufficient for only one perfect Intelligent Designer to exist.
Who Created God? – Conclusion
The ontological argument, which focuses on the concept of perfection, does not, in itself, provide definitive proof of the existence of a perfect, uncreated God. Such arguments are rarely conclusive on their own. Therefore, additional forms of evidence, such as cosmological evidence pointing to design within the universe, are necessary. Together, these forms of evidence provide a cumulative case.
If the universe could not have arisen naturally, an Intelligent Designer must have created it. The same reasoning applies to the emergence of life on Earth. Only by considering this Designer can we, through the argument of perfection, conclude that He is an absolutely perfect Creator. Such a God, by His very nature, could not have been created, as He is “uncreatable.” Therefore, the question of who created God is both illogical and meaningless.8
By the way, we recommend reading the articles:
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- Human Races: A Scientific Perspective
- Self-Transcendence – The Forgotten Human Need
Footnotes
- Ham, K., 2023. Who Made God? Answers in Genesis, 2 May. Available at: https://answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2023/05/02/who-made-god/.
- The most famous formulation of Ockham’s razor is: “One should not multiply entities beyond necessity.”
- Villanueva, J.C., 2009. What is the Oscillating Universe Theory? Universe Today, 24 August. Available at: https://www.universetoday.com/38195/oscillating-universe-theory/.
- Hawking, S. and Mlodinow, L., 2011. The Grand Design. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Albatros, p. 219.
- Sarfati, J., 1998. If God created the universe, then who created God? Journal of Creation, 12(1), pp. 20-22. Available at: https://creation.com/if-god-created-the-universe-then-who-created-god.
- Batten, D., 2010. Who created God? Creation, 32(4), pp. 18-20. Available at: https://creation.com/who-created-god.
- See footnote 2.
- Ibid.
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