New book examines diverse views of God

[mgc1961]

Blessed respite arrives Thursday when Americans turn thankful thoughts to God — a moment of unity as long as we don't quiz each other too hard about the divine details.

Any turkey-induced interrogation about the Almighty will likely produce a menu of rivaling images — God as authoritarian, or benevolent, critical or distant.

More than any red-state-blue-state conflict, these four competing images of God shape our moralities and political divisions, according to a new book, America's Four Gods: What We Say About God & What That Says About Us.


Continue reading at http://www.tennessean.com/article/20101120/COLUMNIST0126/11200321/New-book-examines-diverse-views-of-God

[DontTreadOnMe]

1. What about the fifth image?

non-existing

boo!

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Donchya know?

non-existence doesn't exist.

[skepticscott]

3. Yet more evidence

that "god" is nothing but a human invention, as various manifestations of a security blanket.

[laconicsax]

4. When something is true, opinions on it converge. n/t

[trotsky]

5. Blind men and an elephant! Blind men and an elephant!

See, I know all the terrible analogies and when to bring them up. :)

[AlecBGreen]

8. you dont like that one?

Why not? What do you have against blind men and/or elephants? :P Seriously though, you dont think its a fair comparison of humanity and religion?

(for those who have never read it)

The Blind Men and the Elephant
John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
" 'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

[trotsky]

9. It's a terrible, weak, pathetic analogy.

In that regard, it's pretty standard as far as theological arguments go, I suppose. It fails on so many levels - the most obvious of which: Simply move the blind men around, allowing them to feel each component of the elephant and slide their hand between them to verify it's all one animal.

[AlecBGreen]

11. so the answer is no?

haha j/k

I see what you mean, however I think the larger point is correct: we tend to form different opinions of truth and the nature of reality depending on our own unique perspectives.

[trotsky]

12. Even the larger point is incorrect.

No matter what your unique perspective is, the earth is not supported by turtles all the way down.

[humblebum]

13. And then there was the man who had no sight, hearing, or sense

of smell, and no hands to feel with; he had no sense that an elephant might even exist and couldn't have cared less, because it was a ridiculous idea.

[darkstar3]

14. And once again we see you take something to its insulting and ridiculous end.

As sure as the sun rises once a day...

[trotsky]

15. What a pity that the elephant would have created a man with such handicaps.

Handicaps that totally prevent the man from even beginning to experience the elephant. It's almost as if the elephant were an evil monster who WANTS people to be tortured for eternity. Weird. Thanks for letting us know about your disturbing beliefs.

[humblebum]

16. So you are calling atheism a handicap?

I'm glad you said it and not me.

[trotsky]

17. Nope - again your terrible reading comprehension shows.

The inability to detect your vindictive, vengeful, nasty god is (according to YOUR analogy) a handicap.

[humblebum]

18. Now you're saying I don't understand my own statement?

Don't you get so tired of being so hateful?

[trotsky]

19. Have you stopped beating your wife yet?

No, you clearly don't understand your own statement, as evidenced by your posts. Now go back to worshiping your nasty, petty, intolerant god.

[laconicsax]

20. Don't forget the seventh blind man and the rest of the story:

The seventh blind man was sitting under a the shade of a nearby tree and declared, "My what wonderful wings this elephant has!"

The other six men, while arguing about the nature of the elephant, decided to change places to see who was right. After extensive investigation, they determined that the elephant was an enormous animal with a long nose. They couldn't find any trace of the wings described by the seventh man. The seventh man, indignant, held fast and while remaining under the shade of the tree berated the others for their dogmatic adherence to empiricism, insisting that the elephant most certainly had wondrous, delicate wings.

Soon, a crowd gathered and though most were uninterested in the sight of six blind men investigating an elephant, a growing number sat with the seventh man under the shade of the tree and listened to him talk about the elephant's magnificent wings and took comfort in his words. Eventually someone sitting beneath the tree glanced over at the elephant and chimed in, "I can see the elephant right over there and it doesn't have any wings. In fact those six blind men completed a very thorough study of the elephant and they didn't mention any wings."

"You idiot!" exclaimed the seventh blind man, "you have to have faith in the elephant's wings!"

"But why should I believe in something that clearly isn't there?" responded the skeptic.

"You can't prove the elephant doesn't have wings!" the blind man replied, "Maybe they're quantum, you can't prove they aren't quantum! You're just an immoral asshole who hates the elephant's wings! How dare you come over here and disrespect our sincere beliefs in the elephant's wings? Why must you be so shrill and militant in your promotion of a-wingism?"

Soon others sitting under the tree began challenging the a-wingist, insisting that she respect their belief in the elephant's wings and insisting that their beliefs are outside the realm of scientific inquiry, but should still be taught in the classroom as a matter of religious freedom.

Credit goes to PZ Myers, whose work I butchered above. Link to the original: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/05/elephants_wings.php

[Evoman]

21. I posted about that in another thread....heres the post

From what I understand, all religions are like blind men jacking off an elephant.

Like the blind christian grabs the elephant balls and says, this is a tree and it grows a sac like fruit with two big seeds inside.

And the blind muslim rubs the elephants penis and says, no guys, this tree is vine-like and has no fruit.

And the blind Jew just stand there, and tells the other to quit playing with the tree, cuz it's raining some kind of sticky salty water.

Or something like that...I always forget how that blind thing goes.

Anyways, all of the religions are very different, but they are also very similar in that they are a big load of bullshit.

[moobu2]

6. "competing images of God shape our moralities and political divisions"

More like we project our moralities and political divisions and personalities upon an imagined character we call god (or something like that).

[trotsky]

7. They do seem to have that a bit backwards, don't they? n/t

[ZombieHorde]

10. This thread is awesome, I wish I would have seen it in time to recommend it. nt