God Talk

Raphael's God

Today's topic is way off the usual path. (Don't worry, I'll soon return to current events, TV and other frivolity). I'm talking about that controversial word, "God". God is spoken of freely in religious settings, but is somewhat forbidden elsewhere in the secular community. Somewhere in the mid-19th century, the secular, academic community became implicitly atheistic/agnostic. It put itself at arms length from religion. Such things as the Crusades, the Inquisition, and insistence that the Sun orbits around the Earth put theology in a dim light, so the distancing is somewhat understandable.

Now, if you bring up God in a science-oriented, secular setting you will be greeted with cynical smirks. If one were to propose theology as a necessary component of cosmology you'd be laughed off the campus. Words you might hear: "Well, why don't you also include a study of Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny?". Because it is a terrain of the invisible and unprovable, it gets no place at the table. In the religious community on the other hand, you're welcome to talk about God -- on terms established by organized religion. Between atheism and mainstream religion is a small group of people including myself, who see God as part of the picture but would like to discuss it more. Questions I'd like to ask about God:

- Is God male, female or no gender?
- Is there one God or many? If many, is there a hierarchy?
- Is God fallible, can He, She or They make mistakes? (for simplicity will refer to God as "He" hereon).
- Is God mortal himself, changing or evolving?
- Does God have a personality or a sense of humor?
- Does God have a physical presence or locality?
- Does God have manlike attributes, are we really in his image?
- How does God interact with our physical world?
- Does God have time, material and budget constraints like humans?
- Does God have a preferred religion or group of people?
- If life exists on other planets, what implication does that have for the primacy of Earth life? What if creatures on other planets have their own religions and messianic figures?

Now, in theological seminary 101, you'll be welcome to ask these questions. However, if you don't allow yourself to be corralled pretty quickly into the prevalent monotheistic belief, you'll be rapped on the knuckles with a ruler. Welcome to the state of theology -- a science who's last big contributors were Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther. The objection that the secular community gives to theology is that it's faith-based and has no basis in provable facts. Well, where to begin. The soft sciences of sociology and anthropology are 90% subjective theories that serve mostly to drive the academic careers of professors in those areas. Many things in science are speculation and hand waving: black holes, dark matter, string theory, time travel, worm holes, behavior of quarks, neodarwinism, etc. I'm not saying these things are necessarily wrong, but that discussions are indeed allowed. If I go that wobbly step further and say "I think a superior intelligence had a hand in this", why can't there be a discussion about that? But start with a clean slate, and devise a God model that is consistent with what we have around us (and for that matter, consistent with known scientific facts). Don't rap anyone's knuckles with a ruler, or make them recant.

Well, now I've gone and done it. I've ticked off the believers and the atheists (probably 99% of humans are either atheist or practitioners of mainstream religion). If God is reading this, He, She or They could be very displeased. On the other hand, He, She or They might think it's good idea to throw open the windows and let some fresh, theological air into the room.