In my last post I summarized the argument of Washington Post columnist Kate Cohen claiming that American politics would become more honest if we had more public atheists among us. In it Cohen repeatedly referred to God as a “Supreme Being” and “a supernatural being in charge of the universe.”
While I agreed with much of her criticism of our political dishonesty, I wish to propose an alternative form of Christian honesty. God is not a being, supernatural or otherwise. While I know many Christians are shocked by that assertion, calling God a being suggests that God is some bearded old man in Heaven making judgments about events and people on earth.
Several years ago I wrote, at my daughter’s request, a brief essay for my grandchildren on my religious views. In it, I rejected belief in the traditional views of Heaven and Hell, the image a judgmental God in the Old Testament, and even the more recent view that Jesus’ death was necessary to save us from sin and condemnation to Hell.
Instead, I told my grandkids, I believe in a Divine Creative Spirit (not a Being) existing in all of creation, including humans, and that we all have access to this creative Spirit to the extent that we become conscious of the “God” within us. All life is thus ultimately One and ultimately good.
While this view would be rejected as heresy by my evangelical Christian friends, it is not anti -Christian. A good Christian, for example, can believe that evil is not caused by God but is a part of life and often a consequence of human decisions. A good Christian can also believe that God needs our help to create the “kingdom of God” on earth. This makes active love of others and the earth most important.
Here is a simpler definition of my version of Christian attributed to South African bishop Desmond Tutu: “Without God, you can’t. Without you, God won’t.”
This way of being a follower of Jesus boils down to belief in a God or divine force that helps us do the right things—including being truthful politically—but who does not control or manipulate us—a relational god rather than a judgmental one.
This divine spirit is not the all-powerful, all-knowing, judging “being” many of us were introduced to as children. This ultimate source of creativity is an all loving and all-forgiving power that “invites people to align their wills with spirit and to partner with him/her/it to create and spread beauty throughout the world.” (Benjamin Corey, Unafraid: Moving Beyond Fear-Based Faith (2017), p. 174.)
This thumbnail sketch of an alternative to traditional evangelical Christianity does not deny the divinity that exists in Jesus, that Jewish boy who Christians claim as their founder. Jesus, in the words of 19th century theologian and churchman Friederich Schleiermacher, had a higher level of “God-consciousness” than the rest of us. By following him as he requested—he never asked his disciples to worship him—and imitating his life of love, we can develop a higher level of that consciousness of divinity within ourselves.
By following that path, we can make America a better, more honest, place, without worrying unduly about the various doctrines and dogmas that many churches use to control Jesus and make him into a God whom we often either fear or dismiss. We too often make Jesus into a God with whom it is hard to identify. That is unfortunate, since his message is more about unconditional love than it is about power, obedience, and fear of Hell.
Christianity should be more about sharing love than judging others. If we viewed it that way, we might have the positive effect on our society that atheists like Kate Cohen would like us to have. We would be more compassionate in our social and political policies and behaviors. We might also learn how to accept imperfections in ourselves and others, but still “love our neighbor as ourselves.”
That approach might, with divine help, keep us from being manipulated by power-hungry political or religious leaders—and that would allow Christians to join with atheists and others in creating a better world for all.