{"id":720,"date":"2010-09-16T22:01:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-16T22:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/09\/apparently-gods-hiding-because-we-dont-understand-what-to-look-for.html"},"modified":"2010-09-16T22:01:00","modified_gmt":"2010-09-16T22:01:00","slug":"apparently-gods-hiding-because-we-dont-understand-what-to-look-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/09\/apparently-gods-hiding-because-we-dont-understand-what-to-look-for.html","title":{"rendered":"Apparently, God’s Hiding Because We Don’t Understand What To Look For"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Thanks to Butterflies and Wheels<\/span><\/a> for bringing this Huffington Post article<\/span><\/a> to my attention.\u00a0 It\u2019s in their section on religion and science, written by \u201cnondenominational ordained Rabbi\u201d Alan Lurie. What is it with that website and and its inability to grasp science? \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
You know, it\u2019s much easier to take on fundamentalists because while they\u2019re wildly dogmatic, they\u2019re actually more coherent about their definition of God.\u00a0 Plus I really, really disagree with them.\u00a0 But when it comes to liberal theologians I hesitate a lot.\u00a0 I usually agree with them politically.\u00a0 They\u2019re on our side when it comes to issues of women, gays and racism.\u00a0 They believe in science.\u00a0 Yet it\u2019s hard to pass up an article like this, so here goes.\u00a0 First quote from Rabbi Alan\u2019s attempt to help us find the hidden God:<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
The notion that God can \u201cappear\u201d as a visible entity demonstrates a belief in the nature of God as a being, separate from ourselves, and living somewhere \u201cout there\u201d: a person, perhaps like ourselves, only much, much bigger, smarter, etc. If this is our vision of God, then we will certainly be frustrated at \u201chis\u201d hiding. This image of God, though, is frankly a childish one that we must all agree does not exist.<\/span><\/div>\n
Wrong! \u00a0This image of God exists everywhere.\u00a0 Maybe you think it shouldn\u2019t exist, but don\u2019t deny that it does.\u00a0 Many, many, many fundamentalists the world over have this image of God.\u00a0 I suppose they are the childish ones.\u00a0 Let\u2019s move on:<\/span><\/div>\n
God is not found in the doctrine of religion. Rather, religion is an institution that seeks to find God. This is not a whitewash of religion, and does not ignore the obvious fact that many do look to religion to answer scientific questions and see science as a threat. This, instead, is a declaration that the true purpose of religion is to help us recognize that we are more than our momentary desires, our fleeting thoughts, and our painful sense of separation from each other and nature.<\/span><\/div>\n
Oooo\u2026second foul!\u00a0 Most religions are heavy on the doctrine and the dogma.\u00a0 And most religions are pretty sure they have found God and are very much telling you what the big guy wants of you.\u00a0 I don\u2019t need a god to tell me that I\u2019m more than my desires, thoughts and blah, blah, blah.\u00a0 I can certainly appreciate the wonders of my life and the world without an unseen, unheard presence in my life.\u00a0 On to round three:<\/span><\/div>\n
[Bertrand] Russell\u2019s statement assumes that evidence for God should be immediately obvious to anyone. Is this a reasonable assumption, though? \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2026We only grow when we take the first step and commit to the effort. The experience of God requires deliberate and sustained effort, as well\u2026. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
There are some fortunate people who seem to be more open to experiencing God than others, just as there are some people who are naturally empathetic, more sensitive to art, music, or poetry\u2026. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
[For]or these people God is not hidden but is the most real experience of their lives. \u2026[O]ur ego\u2026tends to resist experiencing God\u2019s presence because this requires that we acknowledge that there is a higher power than ourselves and our minds. This realization can feel like a death, and the ego\u2019s main function is to fight death.<\/span><\/div>\n
No!\u00a0 Religion\u2019s main function is to fight death. That\u2019s why the ego latches onto religion.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m loved by some great big higher power.\u00a0 Aren\u2019t I special?\u00a0 He\u2019ll love me FOREVER.\u201d\u00a0 What takes real effort is to learn science and to comprehend that we are animals and that our soul is our mind is our brain.\u00a0 It takes effort to really appreciate life when you accept that it is finite and that the universe doesn\u2019t exist for our benefit.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t take any effort at all to do what religion teaches; it just takes imagination gone wrong.\u00a0 Okay,\u00a0 move along.\u00a0 Nothing to see there.\u00a0 So let\u2019s try this one on for size:<\/span><\/div>\n
The theologians who postulated these proofs [of the existence of God]\u2026have generally been individuals who have intensely felt God\u2019s presence, and then have attempted to create a reasoned roadmap for others. Unfortunately, this is like trying to get someone to feel the ecstatic emotion of a Beethoven symphony through an analysis of its structure, or to recreate the bliss of sexual union through an anatomical diagram.<\/span><\/div>\n
LOUD BUZZ.\u00a0 The people who postulate proofs for the existence of God in this day and age are usually fundamentalists like William Lane Craig.\u00a0 They are not analyzing classical music for us, they are displaying their dim-witted reasoning for having an imaginary friend.\u00a0 Where is he getting these ideas? \u00a0Finally, we\u2019ll close with this:<\/span><\/div>\n
As I said at the beginning, what we believe matters much less than what we do.<\/span><\/div>\n
YES!!!\u00a0 Finally a correct answer! \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
So why all the esoteric casuistry?\u00a0 Why don\u2019t the liberally religious just give up this confusing un-helpful terminology and start relating to actual reality?\u00a0 Well, over at Butterflies & Wheels she said it was so clerics could keep their jobs.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure about that.\u00a0 Rabbi Lurie has a job as an architect, so that\u2019s not it for him, at least.\u00a0 Plus I obviously think there\u2019s a future in professional spiritual leadership for secular humanists, so I can\u2019t really go there. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Honestly I have no idea.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to Butterflies and Wheels for bringing this Huffington Post article to my attention.\u00a0 It\u2019s in their section on religion and science, written by \u201cnondenominational ordained Rabbi\u201d Alan Lurie. What is it with that website and and its inability to grasp science? \u00a0 You know, it\u2019s much easier to take on fundamentalists because while they\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,12,25,27,38],"class_list":["post-720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-atheism","tag-fundamentalist-christianity","tag-liberal-religions-and-theologies","tag-morality","tag-science-and-reason"],"yoast_head":"\nApparently, God's Hiding Because We Don't Understand What To Look For<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thanks to Butterflies and Wheels for bringing this Huffington Post article to my attention.\u00a0 It\u2019s in their section on religion and science, written by\" \/>\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\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/09\/apparently-gods-hiding-because-we-dont-understand-what-to-look-for.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Apparently, God's Hiding Because We Don't Understand What To Look For\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thanks to Butterflies and Wheels for bringing this Huffington Post article to my attention.\u00a0 It\u2019s in their section on religion and science, written by\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/09\/apparently-gods-hiding-because-we-dont-understand-what-to-look-for.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Atheist Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-16T22:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey L. 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