What would you replace God with?
That's a tall order. The options are endless. Inconceivable. Rather than jumping off the deep end, maybe it would be easiest to start off slowly, say with minimum requirements and then expand from there.
The current concept of an anthropomorphic god would make a reasonable minimum standard. Other forms might be better, but, IMO, anthropomorphic would define the minimum. Cats (as much as I love them) or snakes or mountains just wouldn't do.
The particular anthropomorphic god you describe, saddled by limited human imagination over the ages with an accumulation of less than noble human characteristics, is way below standard. Just won't do. It seems to me that the absolute minimum standard for a god that a self-respecting person could worship would be something greater than him/herself. If I can manage not to be mean or petty or violent, then any entity I might worship would have to be able to rise above those faults as least as well as I am able. It should be, at a minimum, an entity that I could look up to, a mentor, a role model. How could I worship any entity that's less admirable than I.
Assuming for the sake of argument that I wanted some entity to worship, that would be my minimum standard. The current contender most popular in my part of the world misses that standard by a mile.
Karen |
