Do numbers exist? Do ideas? Does perfection? And since people disagree, how can we know? Anselm’s ontological argument attempts to establish God’s existence through reason alone. God is defined as “that than which nothing greater can be conceived.” Anselm argues that such a being cannot exist merely in the understanding, because a being that exists in reality is greater than one that exists only as an idea. Yet this reasoning conceals a fundamental problem: it assumes that existence in reality is a superior condition without adequately establishing what kind of existence can meaningfully be attributed to the God it seeks to prove. The problem becomes particularly striking when the argument is considered within the context of classical Christian theology. God is not understood as a physical object or even as a particularly powerful mind within the universe. God is uncreated, immaterial, and independent of the created order. God has not simply existed for an infinitely long ti...