Hi *Laura*,

"In Hitch-Hiker's guide to the galaxy it argues that the very act of god proving himself would prove he doens't exist - becasue he can't exist without faith and if people need proof he exists then they don't have faith. So by proving he existed he would, in fact, be proving he doesn't exist."

If some have faith, then God has to exist for them. Proof is not important. And they believe God doesn't have to prove that he/she exists.

Proof is ambiguous here because there is no scientific proof available at the moment for the existence of God, Creation or any religious hypothesis.
But when faith exists, it is metaphysical non-empirical scientific proof.

Therefore, God exists for some and not for others.

The famous argument that says (Aquinas?) that if you can conceive of a God, this is proof of his/her existence. It can be turned inside out. If you can conceive of a world without god, this is proof of a denial of his/her existence.

It comes down to faith.

A bigger question that is interesting to me is how does religion impact on society as a useful or destructive force?

Frank