The world of science and the world of religious philosophy would surely agree on these two claims:
1) There must me a cause for everything
2) Something can not come from nothing (matter cannot be created or destroyed)
Using these two mutually accepted truths one must acknowledge that there must be a "first cause" resulting in
existence as we know it. This is a requirement of our very existence. Therefore the answer must exist outside of the
science of the first accepted truth, otherwise it would simply serve to disprove its validity. i.e. accepting that there
is no first cause is not accepting that everything requires a cause, which is blatantly false according to seemingly
endless observation.
After accepting the need for a first cause, one may ask "what is to say that this first cause is
'God'?" My answer is we can all agree that people are conscious beings, capable of radiating love,
beauty, compassion and all other virtuous qualities. These must come from somewhere, as stated in truth 2. They must
then be able to be traced back to the first cause, from which everything must have come. It would seem then that this
entity must be omnipotent and conscious.
The question of evil, I do not know
