Bloody poll: would you worship a God whose existence was certain?

[Whateverist]

Interesting answer. So the idea that you've known Kali from an early age and know it (her) to be reliable gets at an important distinction in knowing. In french there are two verbs for "to know", savoir and connaitre. Savoir for simple knowing of discrete facts seems to be the sort of knowledge philosophy is most concerned with. But to know something more complex, like a person, place or piece of art seems to me (and I wasn't a very good french student) to emphasize the extent to which you know something which is far from discrete, about which there is much to know. I often think that theists have this sort of knowledge of what they call god.

If you know a person, you can often anticipate how they might respond in various situations. If only theists could embrace with uncertainty the true nature of what it is they know as god we would have very little to talk about here. It is only the claims made about these gods' role in the creation of the universe, in moral absolutes and eternal rewards and punishments which trip them up. If they could just live with "as if" rather than insisting on distilling savoir-facts, from connaitre-knowing, they could have it all.

My sense is that it is our own minds which give rise to gods, I mean produce the sense of their living presence in our lives - just as they produce our sense of who we are. But that doesn't seem to matter a great deal. How we relate to such creations still impacts our well being even if they can't part the Red sea or hurl real lightning bolts at our enemies.