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A "God" Outside Religion?

Submitted by magilum on August 16, 2007 - 2:55am.

During his debate with Christopher Hitchens, Al Sharpton couldn't get past the title of Hitchens's book, "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything." Hitchens would make a comment about Christianity, Islam, etc., and Sharpton would stop him to interject, "Those are religions. You said 'God' is not great." As if to distinguish between the two was of gravest importance.

What do we know of this "god" thing apart from the descriptions (myriad contradicting descriptions) offered in religious texts? It's elementary to ask for proof of "god," and when none is offered (other than to play with words or call such a thing "necessary") what features does it offer us apart from those we know through the claims of religions?

You're pulling characters from fiction when you do this.

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Without religion I don't the

Submitted by Voided on August 16, 2007 - 3:11am.

Without religion I don't the word god would have much meaning. Not to say there can't be theists without religion, but I'm pretty sure that means their god is either stolen, made-up, or vage.

mavaddat's picture

magilum wrote: You're

Submitted by mavaddat on August 16, 2007 - 4:16pm.

magilum wrote:
You're pulling characters from fiction when you do this.
That's really a very apt analogy. In fact, it isn't an analogy. It is actually what's going on when people say they believe in God but aren't religious. For you must always ask, What God do you believe in? Their God will invariably be a reiteration of some God found in the religions you are famliar with, and then you can see exactly how they came to their understanding of "God."

netsui's picture

The only god I can think of

Submitted by netsui on August 17, 2007 - 12:26am.

The only god I could think of that would be outside of religion is the concept of Spinoza's God. But, that's a stretch since the Spinoza's god can't really be described as a (supernatural) god at all. Also, I doubt it's the kind of god Sharpton was thinking of at the time.