I'm not a Deist, but I think the world is going in that direction. Have you ever read "Tomorrow's God" by Neal Donald Walsch? I perhaps didn't spell his name right--just a sec...yes, that's it; he's famous for his "Conversations With God" series, and Tomorrow's God is one.
The Emerging Church Movement (I'm not a member, just a watcher) is where masses of people are streaming today; they're leaving Traditional Christianity and embracing New Age/New Thought. The idea here is to make God generic, that is, rather than think of Him as Him--as Father, to see "Him" as simply "Love", or "Life"--or if personalizing, as "He/She", and sometimes just "She." The Emerging Church recognizes the evils of Traditional Religion and it sees factions, prejudice, wars, divisions--all of the worlds' evils actually--as the result of groups who believe "My God is better than your God." "Tomorrow's God" is a "one size fits all" God. The idea here is that when this movement reaches critical mass, there will be a "new earth" as people leave Fundamentalism and embrace a new way of viewing God that makes room for all people.
Oprah and her New Age Gurus, like Tolle and others, have helped a great deal (to reach critical mass)as they reach huge numbers (billions) of people worldwide. Tolle's New Earth sold over 10 million of copies (I think it was) the very first week Oprah touted it. I think the election of Barack Obama is the result of the influence of this movement, and represents the "hope for change" that New Age/New Thought is striving to bring about. The movement is catching on like wildfire.
This movement doesn't see the bible as the Word of God, but only as the reflection of man's understanding in those periods of time--and believe that man is evolving to more and more enlightenment as time marches on.
So the point of all this, my bringing it up to you, AA, is this: Do you think this will make the need of such points/counterpoints as in your and Marshall's debate moot? Will it matter if one believes in God or not? Or if one is a Christian/Muslim/Jew/Buddhist/Hindu/Atheist or not?
And I also want to clarify that I'm not touting this movement at all--just watching it and recognizing the power of it.
I also want to ask: you mentioned in your paper that a scientist (I'm sorry, I can't remember his name at the moment) spoke about how the fact that we are here shows that life did evolve from non-life, and I wonder, just on that point alone (I thought the rest of your points were spot on) how there's a difference really, from a belief in that and a belief in God bringing this about. Just a question that rose in my mind as I was reading, AA, because the evidence of what we know, as all your points make clear on each point, isn't there for that one either way (evolution without God--or God creating through evolution.) I happen to believe the latter; I'm not aware that scripture goes against that (don't know why Fundy'ism sees Science as the enemy here, except they don't like their Sacred Cows tipped over--the motivation isn't for a quest for truth, but for the fear of falsehoods they tout exposed.)
And thanks so much for such interesting material--I've really enjoyed it--the wheels of my brain have been turning since I started reading your work, and I have it here saved in my favorites folder as I intend to revisit it often--and do you mind if I share it? --rhonda
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