My take on it. I agree with everything you said about the something that is larger, the "we are made of star stuff" concept. I don't call it god, mainly because I feel like that the word god is already taken, ya know? It seems to me (and just for me) like a cop out - like saying "no, really I am a theist, just not a theist in any form that most other monotheistic religions would be happy with". - This is my baggage and no one else's...
See, I realized a few years back, when I claimed to be a weak theist/agnostic, that really I was only falling short of calling myself an atheist because of social conventions and semantic need.
First off, it is HARD to say I don't believe in god. Conversations can get incredibly confrontational so quickly. It is almost as though people are allowed to say "I believe in God, but not {insert specifics of a monotheistic religion here}" but NOT to say "I don't believe in God." To say one doesn't believe in God is to say that one is a staunch self-interested materialist who has no ethical system at all. Atheists as a group have a BAD (and very unfair) reputation.
Secondly, there is no good term for that all encompassing, humbling, awesome *thing/stuff/existence/universe* that is greater than us. God is a very very useful short hand IF you are coming from a theological/philosophical background (like a standard UU church or say the Jesuits) where the essence of the definition of the divine has been discussed and explored. But if coming from the background of the average American with the average theological education, the word God has very different connotations, in my experience.
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Date: 2009-11-09 07:59 pm (UTC)See, I realized a few years back, when I claimed to be a weak theist/agnostic, that really I was only falling short of calling myself an atheist because of social conventions and semantic need.
First off, it is HARD to say I don't believe in god. Conversations can get incredibly confrontational so quickly. It is almost as though people are allowed to say "I believe in God, but not {insert specifics of a monotheistic religion here}" but NOT to say "I don't believe in God." To say one doesn't believe in God is to say that one is a staunch self-interested materialist who has no ethical system at all. Atheists as a group have a BAD (and very unfair) reputation.
Secondly, there is no good term for that all encompassing, humbling, awesome *thing/stuff/existence/universe* that is greater than us. God is a very very useful short hand IF you are coming from a theological/philosophical background (like a standard UU church or say the Jesuits) where the essence of the definition of the divine has been discussed and explored. But if coming from the background of the average American with the average theological education, the word God has very different connotations, in my experience.
Just some musings...