So there’s something unknowable behind the universe … and this does what for us, exactly? Claiming that something unknowable exists is self-refuting. You have to know something about it to know it exists at all. And just having faith in this sort of force is pointless. What will faith in a force get you?

Posted: September 19th 2010

See all questions answered by Mike the Infidel

You’re describing a kind of Deistic view, something so vague that it’s hard to argue against. It’s impossible to prove or disprove, so it tells us nothing about reality. I would go so far as to call this a kind of atheism: if you believe in everything, you believe in nothing. (I’m kidding … I think!)

However, this view is at odds with the Theistic views of mainstream religions, which all describe a god more specifically: it’s here, it has an interest in humanity, and will actually do things for you if you make the right noises.

Posted: September 18th 2010

See all questions answered by brian thomson

Defined like this, why would god matter? What would be the point of religion? Why would the energy or force of the universe care whether we believed in it or not? Why would it crave our worship?

If you want to define the physical laws of the universe as 'god’, be my guest. But you do realise, don’t you, that this would be about as far from any god actually worshipped on Earth as it is possible to get?

Posted: September 17th 2010

See all questions answered by Paula Kirby

There is something that is infinite and unknowable that you’ve decided to label with the term “god”.

Of what possible use is that definition?

At least with the interventionist god, you can point to things that he/she/it/them have been asserted to have done. The god you are proposing doesn’t do anything, so why not just all the universe itself “god” and be done with it.

Posted: September 17th 2010

See all questions answered by Eric_PK

The idea of god as an “energy force moving the universe” is an attractive one, but it’s hard to take seriously. The forces moving the universe (gravity, magnetism, etc) are in no way godlike — they’re mindless. They are utterly regular and mundane. The idea that a photon might somehow “care about me” (or have any other godlike property) is ludicrous, and there’s no reason to imagine that when you put all the photons in the world together you would get anything other than a bunch of stuff.

Could there be some unseen force guiding the world, some ghost in the machine? Well, every search for the paranormal has come up negative, but you can’t falsify the theory categorically. If evidence for such a ghost appears, then I’d believe in it. I’m not holding my breath.

To address the larger concern of how the definition of god affects belief: basically, it doesn’t matter for an atheist. Different kinds of god would leave different kinds of traces (e.g. the Biblical God ought to answer prayers). Where you look depends on what you’re looking for. However, it doesn’t really matter where you look, because we never find anything but good ol’ nature. No faeries, no ESP, just trees and crystals and stars and so forth. As long as the god you’re talking about is supernatural, then I am confident in my disbelief.

Posted: September 17th 2010

See all questions answered by George Locke