I want a new god.

The recent rise of atheist rebuttal to the monotheist monoliths has been interesting for me. So here's some of my thoughts on this God thing:

There seems to be confusion about what a universe without ‘God’ would look like, act like, value, be worth, and be worth living in. Well that then begs a better look at ‘the God question’ doesn’t it?

0. Can I personally communicate with God?

1. Is God an individual, with a personality and emotions and human foibles such as jealousy and anger?

2. Is God the only way towards Good?

3. How can we have ethics without God, when your good and my good may be different?

4. Who made the universe (a), its rules (b), and all the complex stuff in it (c)?

Let’s start with the number 4 and work our way backwards.

4. A three-part loaded question. Why presuppose a who?

a) We just don’t know how the universe got here. We may have our beliefs, theories, and opinions, but we can’t know.

b) The rules of the universe – tautologically beautiful and reliable – are also of unknown origin. These two questions (a and b) are fascinating to me in terms of metaphysics, but are not the stuff of rational debate between persons of opposing views.

c) As for the complex stuff in the universe, well, here rationality begins to find some traction. Given that we have a universe with basic stuff and rules, how do we get to the sublime reaches of human experience? Good question. I’m more than willing to entertain ideas that go beyond the rational, as long as they fit well with the evidence around me; but since this is a topic I can ponder utilizing my reason, a belief-only answer ain’t gonna satisfy me.

3. Sure we can have ethics without the concept of ‘God’. The concepts of pain, joy, health, suffering, wholesomeness, unwholesomeness, wisdom, and ignorance require no deity to fathom. All humans naturally understand these. The range of human experience is a natural and rigorous base for ethics.

2. I would say that motion towards the positive cluster: the joy, health, wholesomeness and wisdom can be confidently called ‘good’. And the opposites not good. In addition many of the actions ascribed to deities in various holy books have been anything but what a reasonable person would consider ‘good.’ Thus, not only don’t I see a deity a necessary to define good, I see deity often used as something that confuses the whole concept of good.

1. As we develop as individuals we hopefully rise above the blinding rushes of emotion such as jealousy and anger. Therefore I cannot ascribe these qualities in any way to a ‘supreme being’.

0. Great question. I would imagine that each of us must answer this one for themselves.

For me, if there is a God, that really did create all this stuff from the quantum fluctuation to galaxies, time, thought and memory, dinosaurs and pi, falling apples and the smile on a child's face, then that is just one outrageously cool, fantastic entity. I can't see an entity like that either interested in punishing or aching for worship...which is maybe just me seeing what I want to see, because worshiping a punisher was never much fun. For me.