Who Is God?

Some religions describe God without reference to gender, while others use terminology that is gender-specific and gender-biased. God has been conceived as either personal or impersonal. In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer, of the universe. In pantheism, God is the universe itself, while in panentheism, the universe is part (but not the whole) of God. Atheism is an absence of belief in God or any other deity, while agnosticism is the belief that the existence of God is unknown or unknowable. God has also been conceived as the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent".

Many notable theologians and philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God. God is referred to by different names depending on the language and cultural tradition with titles sometimes used referring to God's attributes.

A deity, or ‘’god’’ (with lowercase g), refers to a supernatural being.[55] Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, referred to as ‘’God’’ (with uppercase g). Monotheistic traditions view God as incomparable and idolatry, equating others to God in some way, is often strongly condemned. Judaism includes some of the oldest monotheistic traditions in the world.[56] Islam's most fundamental concept is tawhid meaning "oneness" or "uniqueness".[57] The first pillar of Islam is an oath that forms the basis of the religion and which non-Muslims wishing to convert must recite, declares that "I testify that there is no deity except God."[58]

In Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity describes God as one God in Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit.[59] In the past centuries, this fundamental mystery of the Christian faith was also summarized by the Latin formula Sancta Trinitas, Unus Deus (Holy Trinity, Unique God), reported in the Litanias Lauretanas. God in Hinduism is viewed differently by diverse strands of the religion with most Hindus having faith in a supreme reality (Brahman) who can be manifested in numerous chosen deities. Thus, the religion is sometimes characterized as Polymorphic Monotheism.[60] Henotheism is the belief and worship of a single god at a time while accepting the validity of worshiping other deities.[61] Monolatry is the belief in only a single deity worthy of worship while accepting the existence of other dieties.[62] God is often viewed as the cause of all that exists. For Pythagoreans, Monad variously referred to divinity, the first being or an indivisible origin.[72] The philosophy of Plato and Plotinus refers to “The One” which is the first principle of reality that is ‘’beyond’’ being[73] and is both the source of the Universe and the teleological purpose of all things.[74] Aristotle theorized a first uncaused cause for all motion in the universe and viewed it as perfectly beautiful, immaterial, unchanging and indivisible. Aseity is the property of not depending on any cause other than itself for its existence. Avicenna held that there must be a necessarily existent guaranteed to exist by its essence- it cannot ‘’not’’ exist – and that humans identify this as God.[75] Secondary causation refers to God creating the laws of the Universe which then can change themselves within the framework of those laws. In addition to the initial creation, occasionalism refers to the idea that the Universe would not by default continue to exist from one instant to the next and so would need to rely on God as a sustainer. While divine providence refers to any intervention by God it is usually used to refer to "special providence" where there is an extraordinary intervention by God, such as miracles.