{"id":2494,"date":"2009-02-17T08:21:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-17T08:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/02\/quote-of-the-day-michael-dowd\/"},"modified":"2009-02-17T08:21:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-17T08:21:00","slug":"quote-of-the-day-michael-dowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/02\/quote-of-the-day-michael-dowd.html","title":{"rendered":"Quote of the Day (Michael Dowd)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\u201cMost religious traditions portray God as exhibiting the very best of human traits toward the tribe or in-group (\u201cthose who believe or act like this\u2026\u201d), and the most horrific of human traits toward the out-group (those who fail to believe or act in the prescribed manner). For example, the U.S. Department of Defense defines terrorism<\/a> as \u201cthe calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate others in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.\u201d In a post 9-11 world, we all understand this. Yet a literal reading of the Bible or Koran portrays God exactly in that light\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n
So here\u2019s traditional religion\u2019s God problem in a nutshell: Religious people of all faiths know that none of this is true. God is not tribal and petty. God does not have multiple personality disorder. And God is not a cosmic terrorist. Yet as anyone who has carefully read their Bible or Koran can testify, some passages of Holy Writ undeniably portray God this way. That is traditional religion\u2019s God problem. That\u2019s the elephant in the living room that no one other than atheists are willing to talk about. It is why millions are embarrassed by scripture (though they\u2019d never admit it), and why millions of others are leaving organized religion altogether.\u201d<\/span> <\/div>\n
\u2014 Michael Dowd, \u201cTraditional Religion\u2019s God Problem<\/a>\u201c<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMost religious traditions portray God as exhibiting the very best of human traits toward the tribe or in-group (\u201cthose who believe or act like this\u2026\u201d), and the most horrific of human traits toward the out-group (those who fail to believe or act in the prescribed manner). For example, the U.S. Department of Defense defines terrorism […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nQuote of the Day (Michael Dowd)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""Most religious traditions portray God as exhibiting the very best of human traits toward the tribe or in-group ("those who believe or act like this..."),\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/02\/quote-of-the-day-michael-dowd.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Quote of the Day (Michael Dowd)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""Most religious traditions portray God as exhibiting the very best of human traits toward the tribe or in-group ("those who believe or act like this..."),\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/02\/quote-of-the-day-michael-dowd.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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