Abstract: This book is a short and non-technical presentation of the cumulative argument for the existence of God. An explanatory hypothesis is probable insofar as it leads us to expect many otherwise inexplicable events to be explained, is simple, and fits in with ‘background knowledge’ (this is knowledge of how things work in fields outside the scope of the hypothesis and this last criterion drops out when there is little outside the scope of the hypothesis.) By these criteria, the existence and operation of God provides the best and most probably true explanation of the existence of the universe, it being governed by simple laws of nature — these laws (and the boundary conditions of the universe) being as such to lead to the evolution of humans, human consciousness, occasional miracles, and the religious experiences of millions of humans. The existence of evil does not count against the existence of God.

Keywords: cumulative argument, evil, evolution, explanation, laws of nature, probability, universe