#41: Does God Exist? 5 Arguments That Have Defined the Debate | Kevin Carnahan

What does it actually take to make a good argument about whether God exists — and what separates a rigorous case from a philosophical dead end?

In this episode of The Prometheans, Ali Zaka (AZD) sits down with Dr. Kevin Carnahan — Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Central Methodist University, PhD from Southern Methodist University, former co-editor of the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, and one of the most intellectually honest voices at the intersection of academic theology and public discourse — to do something rarely done well: weigh the strongest arguments on both sides with full philosophical seriousness.

Together, they dissect five of the most consequential arguments in the philosophy of religion:

🔹 The Kalam Cosmological Argument — Does the universe's beginning demand a transcendent cause, or does modern cosmology dissolve the premise?

🔹 The Contingency Argument — If everything that exists could not have existed, must there be a Necessary Existent that grounds all reality?

🔹 The Fine-Tuning Argument — Does the universe's extraordinary precision point toward a Designer, or are we just the lucky observers of an indifferent cosmos?

🔹 The Problem of Evil and Suffering — The oldest wound in theology: can a perfectly good, all-knowing, all-powerful God coexist with the depth of suffering we witness in the world?

🔹 Divine Hiddenness — If God genuinely wants a relationship with every human being, why do sincere, open-hearted seekers so often find silence?

No strawmen. No cheap shots. Just two people committed to intellectual honesty asking: which arguments actually hold, which ones collapse under scrutiny, and what does that mean for how we think about ultimate reality?

Whether you're a believer, a skeptic, or somewhere between — this conversation will sharpen how you think.

🎙️ The Prometheans is a podcast and YouTube channel dedicated to interfaith dialogue and the philosophy of religion — hosted by author, educator, and storyteller Ali Zaka (AZD).

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