As an avowed atheist, it's abundantly obvious to me that there is no "ontological" (having an existence outside of our selves) basis for god. But...in the same manner that we declare/assume that beauty and love exist, even though they are purely human metaphors/concepts without any ontological basis, should we not allow the same to be true of god?
Holding & nurturing our concepts of love and beauty are universally acknowledged as life-enhancing, so could this not potentially be true for god as well? While I personally find no value added in the concept, I believe I must acknowledge that holding this "god concept" has been/is of great benefit to many individuals and societies. Of course it has been of great detriment as well, but this would seem to be more the particular nature of the concept than the existence of the concept itself.
The reality is that the vast majority of individuals have never been and probably never will be disposed to do much deep thinking about the great philosophical questions--existence, ethics, death, etc. So, even as atheists, might we not actually encourage the more benign (Taoist, Buddhist, Sufi, etc.) conceptions of god, recognizing that implanting such concepts can in fact be of great value even in a godless world?
Holding & nurturing our concepts of love and beauty are universally acknowledged as life-enhancing, so could this not potentially be true for god as well? While I personally find no value added in the concept, I believe I must acknowledge that holding this "god concept" has been/is of great benefit to many individuals and societies. Of course it has been of great detriment as well, but this would seem to be more the particular nature of the concept than the existence of the concept itself.
The reality is that the vast majority of individuals have never been and probably never will be disposed to do much deep thinking about the great philosophical questions--existence, ethics, death, etc. So, even as atheists, might we not actually encourage the more benign (Taoist, Buddhist, Sufi, etc.) conceptions of god, recognizing that implanting such concepts can in fact be of great value even in a godless world?
