“Pope Benedict XVI....asked God why he remained silent during the ‘unprecedented mass crimes’ of the Holocaust (Pope visits Auschwitz, May 29)”



I can easily answer that. It is because if She exists, it was She who conferred upon us Free Will. The Race seems to be one of Her special doings, and I can’t imagine why She would have created us if She knew all along what we were going to do



Furthermore, the idea is absurd that matters proceed by Free Will most of the time but that She “comes down” once in a while to confer Her favors upon a special few for no apparent reason, while slaughtering hundreds of thousands of the perfectly innocent in natural disasters



Evidently, it was She who set up the physical constants and established all the Laws Of Physics that made the Big Bang and Evolution possible. From that instant on, it’s clear that She has had a hands-off policy, allowing the Universe to proceed in a kind of fully-automatic mode, except of course for events depending on human intervention of Man, and maybe some of the animals too



If you’re going to have a huge rock orbiting a masssive hydrogen explosion, you should naturally expect a storm or earthquake once in a while



It’s clear that Her only function now is an observer, watching us with a combination of glee and disappointment as we further our creative aims and at the same time murder, cheat, and maim each other

Or do you understand the meaning of the expression different from me


PS: One can’t help wondering why AP didn’t capitalize "he"


How very sacrilegious

quote:

Originally posted by dalehileman:
.....it’s clear that She has had a hands-off policy, allowing the Universe to proceed in a kind of fully-automatic mode.....

It’s clear that Her only function now is an observer....

A theory known as Deus absconditus....a tired old saw, indeed.

Duncan: In my own defense,at least I had thought it might be an original idea

Deus absconditus

Meaning hidden god, as opposed to deus revelatus 'revealed god'. I liked Isaac Asimov's suggestion that god was a PhD student who abandoned creation after receiving his sheepskin.

...her sheepskin

her sheepskin

Perhaps my non-existent god is different from yours, genderwise at least.

Some people are offended at the idea of a female god, revealing a kind of subconscious, deeply buried sexism. It bothered my No. 2 Son, who claims to be an athiest. So maybe the idea that there aren't any athiests has some validity

When I sneeze and someone responds, "God bless you," I reply, "Thank you, but God doesn't believe I exist"

I get a wide variety of responses, from indignation to hilarious laughter

Some people are offended at the idea of a female god, revealing a kind of subconscious, deeply buried sexism.

Omen absit. While I am not offended by a non-existent goddess, at least, any more than I am by a non-existent god, I am beginning to think that dalehilman does not exist, no matter her gender. And, for the record, Asimov assigned a gender to the non-existent PhD student, and I merely went along with him, as it was his joke. While we're at it, and because this is a words-related board, there is no agreed-upon etymology of English god, German Gott. La! (This root only appears in the Germanic branch of the IE language family.)

I once taught a student with the unusual distinction of being a professed atheist from an Islamic state. I normally avoid religion in class but we did once talk about it and he made it absolutely plain that while he didn't believe in God it was most definitely the Islamic God that he didn't believe in. Until then I hadn't considered that while there may be lots of us atheists around we are all busy not believing in different Gods.

Until then I hadn't considered that while there may be lots of us atheists around we are all busy not believing in different Gods.

That's why I prefer the term adogmatic non-theist.

zm, Bob: Thank you for that. If it's no trouble, you might consider where pantheism fits into all this

Pantheism has appeal because it lends some validity to prayer; as when you do so you are talking to yourself, but then presumably you yourself are part of the Deity; so you are indeed speaking to Her

Or cannot "pantheism" be so defined

Have you considered checking out boards dedicated to discussion of religious philosphy? I haven't looked but I'm sure there must be plenty around. Here's a site that might be able to point you in the right direction.

Bob: Thank you for that link. Between five word-origin boards as well as two beer boards, then pulling weeds, repairing the roof, painting the eaves, clearing the flood-control ditch...

...taking out the garbage, reading the paper and TIME mag, then finally petting Bob my cat (no kidding, that's his name and he's as old as I in cat terms) I don't have much disposable time

Indeed I've had to cut back on tv, settling down to watch at 6 pm instead of 5 pm

But if your suggestion was a tactful way of saying that some of my threads are OT, then you're absolutely right

Nonetheless thanks again for the link, and I have ensconced it amongst my Faves

See? I told you all. Somebody thinks I'm tactful!

Seriously, I'm glad you find the web-site useful. (A site devoted to religious tolerence that includes both Atheism and Satanism - now that's what I call a broad church!)