Just out of curiosity- what's wrong with calling God an invisible friend/companion? I mean God is invisible, and you can't prove he or she or it exists, so aside from stressing the unscientific nature of God, I'm not sure why it is so horrible. I say the same thing about invisible angels, invisible leprechauns, invisibly animistic spirits, etc.
"Invisibility" is a metaphor for not only really invisible, but also completely unprovable. So no, it's not sophomoring- it's just metaphorical. God is not provable- if it were, you wouldn't need faith. God is truly invisible to the eyes, and to science. You can SAY you can see it with your heart- but you can say that about anything. So we'll disagree about the nature of the "invisibility" claim.
If you believe in something that is not of the human world, and which cannot be seen or measured, is the onus on me to treat your ...spirit creature...with the respect you think it deserves? All I claim to experience is the known world. I don't see how anyone could have a problem with that.
I don't MIND that people want to believe in invisible entities- of whatever kind- but I don't think I have to be too deferential about the whole idea. I'm not very deferential about people who think they've been probed by space aliens, or who claim to have seen ghosts, or who believe in volcano demons. And people believe those things with exactly the same fervor as God people.
I don't think teachers have any business shoving their faith, or lack thereof, on their students. Religion does not belong in the pluralistic classroom. |
