Many philosophers contend that any acknowledgment of a perfectly loving God who cares for people is just wishful thinking, and not sound judgment at all. Their skepticism about God's reality colors their whole conceived universe, even darkly as far as lasting hope for human life goes. Whether they know that we have mere wishful thinking in acknowledgment of God's reality remains to be seen. In any case, we need to face such skepticism head on. It has remarkable staying power among philosophers, whatever its standing regarding truth and available evidence.

In keeping with philosophical positions generally, skepticism comes in many different versions. Skeptics have doubted the reality of the external world, (other) minds, abstract objects, physical objects, history, the future, causation, God (of course), evil, goodness, and so on. In addition, skeptics have disavowed various cognitively important states: certainty, knowledge, justified belief, and reliable belief, among others. Skepticism also comes in different strengths of doubt. Modal skeptics disavow that a cognitive state, such as knowledge, is even possible. Actuality skeptics disavow that a cognitive state, such as knowledge, is actual. This is just the beginning of distinctions about skepticism, but we won't delay with elaborate taxonomy. Instead, we'll turn directly to religious skepticism and its prospects regarding God's existence.

Religious skepticism, we'll see, is not as compelling from a cognitive point of view as many philosophers have supposed, and is in fact open to serious challenge.