My sympathies for pantheism

[MJ the Skeptical]

Pantheism to me just always seemed like poor Scientific analysis about the Universe. So, the universe is god to a Pantheist, but why such a Hasty Generalization when the universe was a starting point for existence at the singularity. The universe was clearly not a starting point for intelligence at the singularity (which theists of all stripes seem to always say) let alone a god/deity which would hypothetically be all intelligent/powerful/good/etc. Some have said Pantheists are just one step away from Atheists or even "Sexed up Atheists" but I don't see the correlation there. If anything, Pantheism could be looked at as the last step of rehab before kicking the theism habit. But it's quite different than being an Atheist I'd say, you still believe in the whole god thing as a Pantheist.

I agree!
I talked about something related in another thread, so I'd like to add a little of my own thinking.
The pantheist probably thinks a bit like this: 'Look! Hydrogen and oxygen are bonding in the stars to become water! We humans need water to exist! The universe is ordering itself to suit the needs of life!'
(I base this thought on my somewhat limited understanding of pantheism.)
If this is true, I believe that their logic is flawed in several ways.

Also. I believe that those atoms just follow the path of least resistance. If it would be easier for hydrogen to bond with some other type of atom than oxygen, it probably would, I think.
The former statement may sound overly simplified and dumbed down. I'm not even really certain if I'm right. But what I'm trying to say is that i find it hard to believe or proove that oxygen and hydrogen give a rats arse about what we want or need. It would follow that the universe doesn't, either.

I'm thinking about the novel 'Solaris' by Stanislaw Lem.
The classic quote goes something like this:
'We don't want other worlds. We want mirrors.'

The pantheist really wants the universe to mirror his own more or less sub-concious beliefs and desires. But just like the fictional planet Solaris, the universe doesn't care about humanity.
Solaris doesn't need to be understood or explained by humanity to exist.

I was never infected with the 'god virus' so the thought or feeling that there was some grand design at work didn't really hit me. I just didn't think about it at all. That's what it feels like to be an 'organic' atheist. Its not a dreadful feeling of emptiness and meaningless despair at all. You can't really feel the loss or lack of something you never even imagined existed in the first place.

I've never actually met a Pantheist but I imagine they would actually have somewhat similar views as a Theist but maybe more liberal views, much like a Deist. I think it would be a lot easier to talk with Pantheists than Theists and possibly even get them off of their Pantheism with a few conversations. I imagine I'd point them to some documentaries about space instead of giving them the technical jargon about the composition of the universe and the rest should take hold. A good understanding of what the universe actually is and is made up of is key.

Again, I think Pantheists may not have a firm grasp on the make-up of Universe itself, we don't know everything, but at least we have a solid model of the universe. It's especially frustrating if they call our universe a god when it's a completely different idea from a universe. Pantheism is conflation of two ideas and maybe that's why it's considered the last stop before Atheism. Since the logical conclusion with the current trend of evidence is that Atheists are probably right.

You're pretty dead on on the Physics part. Colloquially speaking, particles and atoms will just follow the path of their trajectory and don't have a mind of their own to do anything. I'm not sure if the Pantheist thinks that atoms have a mind of their own but they must think something along those lines of intelligent intervention if they think the universe is god.