The reason why I raise this question is because the philosophy of religion developed in a different era. Influential writers, like Augustine and Aquinas were writing with a different understanding of the universe, as were the Biblical writers.

So many ideas have changed this, especially Darwin but also more current thinking in the twentieth and twentieth century. This has often lead to the idea that God is a 'delusion', as suggested by Dawkins. Also, the way in which religion has had a negative impact on life, such as the people being encouraged to focus on happiness in an afterlife, has lead to many rejecting the idea of 'God'.

It is hard to see evidence of an actual 'God' behind the scenes. However, there are still questions about where life came from and why did consciousness evolve. It is not necessary to say that God created them or to fill in the gaps. However, it could be that the idea of God is a metaphorical truth, and that may be how Einstein saw the idea of God, and Jung too. In a famous television speech, Jung said, 'I don't believe, I know', referring to the numinous aspects of experience.

I realise that it could be argued that it is possible to experience the numinous without the idea of God. However, I am raising this topic with a view to querying the idea and images of 'God' , especially the clear distinction between theism and atheism, with agnosticism being seen as the other option. I am also not coming from a particular religious viewpoint, and my thinking is partly based on the ideas about comparative religion of Huston Smith on comparative religion . He suggested that both theism and atheism had their limitations. He speaks of dimensions or levels of reality, but sees theism as being inadequate as offering a perspective which is anthropomorphic.

So, I am asking more about how people see the idea of God as a basis for beginning to think about the existence of God. Is it simply best to dismiss the idea of God in relation to scientific knowledge? Or, is time to rethink the notion of God, in line with mythic or symbolic ways of understanding the philosophy of reality, including the underlying source of everything ? To what extent is arts and a basis for understanding the symbolic aspects of the God question, rather than simply asking about the existence of God from a scientific approach. Is science and art completely divided here , or is it about juggling different models to understand the nature of reality?