I
believe we need to imagine a world without God.
We
then might take greater responsibility for our own lives and the circumstances of
others, as well as life on this planet.
Our consciences would not be alleviated by the notion that suffering or
poverty is God’s will. There would be no
“acts of God” that can toss a baby through a window, drown a family, suffocate
the elderly, or destroy a coastline. There would just be tornadoes, tsunamis, heat
waves, and hurricanes.
We
wouldn’t wait for God to fix things, or save us, or take care of the world. We
wouldn’t exclude anyone from basic human rights because God demands purity or
orthodoxy or a particular form of religion or worship. We wouldn’t have those
who do violence to themselves or others for the reward of various versions of an
afterlife. We wouldn’t have American politicians who insist on saying “God
bless America” rather than “God bless the world.”
Diseases,
disabilities, and infirmities would not be blamed on God but on their true
causes ascertained by science. Global warming and evolution would not be things
of “belief” but challenges to human arrogance and pride. Sin would be viewed
not as an offense against God but as an offense against ourselves, others, and
the earth. Redemption would not be considered a supernatural event but a coming
together of forgiveness, responsibility, mentoring, and community. Death would
remind us of the unpostponable value of life.
Rather
than prefer and await an invisible world, we might better value bodies, earth,
the cosmos, and the moment.
So
I am grateful for atheists and agnostics who remind me of my own “cloud of unknowing” when it comes to God’s definitions, actions, and desires.
Yet
I still believe in God.
Letting
go of the concepts above prompts me to believe still more that all we say and
do and all we fail to say or do matters.
+++
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