{"id":2550,"date":"2011-11-22T13:03:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-22T13:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2011\/11\/biblical-views-of-god.html"},"modified":"2011-11-22T13:03:00","modified_gmt":"2011-11-22T13:03:00","slug":"biblical-views-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2011\/11\/biblical-views-of-god.html","title":{"rendered":"Biblical Views of God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by Amy-Jill Levine and Douglas Knight
Huffington Post<\/p>\n

The claims are familiar: humanity could not control nature, did not understand conception or birth, and feared death, and so we invented a God that brought order to chaos, purpose to life and comfort in death. Next, we developed religion to placate the God we invented to assuage our fears of what we could not understand or control. Then, we wrote the Bible to sanction the religion that placated the God that we invented. Next came clergy, to interpret the Bible. And today, we have academics to challenge the clergy who interpret the Bible that explains the religion that placates the God that we invented.<\/p>\n

Such debates over the existence of God are not only tedious, they are also pointless. Those who believe, believe; those who don\u2019t, don\u2019t. Belief is like love: it cannot be compelled; it does not function on logical parameters. As some religions would put it, faith is a matter of \u201cgrace.\u201d For these traditions, we do not summon faith; it summons us.<\/p>\n

Read more here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Amy-Jill Levine and Douglas KnightHuffington Post The claims are familiar: humanity could not control nature, did not understand conception or birth, and feared death, and so we invented a God that brought order to chaos, purpose to life and comfort in death. Next, we developed religion to placate the God we invented to assuage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBiblical Views of God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Amy-Jill Levine and Douglas KnightHuffington PostThe claims are familiar: humanity could not control nature, did not understand conception or birth,\" \/>\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\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2011\/11\/biblical-views-of-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Biblical Views of God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Amy-Jill Levine and Douglas KnightHuffington PostThe claims are familiar: humanity could not control nature, did not understand conception or birth,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2011\/11\/biblical-views-of-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-22T13:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. 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