This is our first in what we hope will be a long and meaningful string of blog posts. For this first posting, we thought we would start a discussion on a particularly difficult question – what is God?
Fundamental to a discussion of religion and its pros and cons is the question of defining God or gods. What we mean by any particular god is always problematic because a god is merely a concept, not something you can see or hear or touch. Therefore, the existence of such a being cannot be positively either proven or disproven.
Because a god cannot be seen or heard or touched, whether it exists or in what form it exists is open to a broad spectrum of interpretations. That’s why religion, as a practice, is so problematic. Religion is the human interpretation of what is perceived to be the makeup and intent of the god or gods being worshiped. But why worship something that is completely intangible, whose existence depends totally on faith, which ultimately requires the suspension of logic and reason.
The larger question is not whether God or gods exist, but what influence they have, if any, over our daily lives. To us, the answer is clear, being that except for the forces of nature, we humans are in control of our own destiny and are the only ones that are capable of influencing our lives, whether for good or for bad.
Humanity is currently facing a real threat to its existence in the form of climate change, perhaps within decades. Climate change is a direct result of human activity, largely from the burning of fossil fuels over the past few centuries. It is clear to us that there is no god or other supernatural being that will intercede to save us. Only humanity itself, banding together, can halt and reverse the effects of climate change. The question of God, then, becomes moot, because humanity must look to itself to save its future and the future of the millions of species with whom we share the planet.