“You do, you know,” said The Lady. “Everyone has gods. You just don’t think they’re gods.”
- Terry Pratchett
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Which god do I have that I don’t think is a god?
I love discworld. I don’t get the quote though. Anything you wanna add op?
It sounds like the typical “atheism is really a religion” nonsense.
I take it more like that the emperor that twoflower serves is their god, they just call him emperor instead
D’argo: How did you know about their sacred text?
Rygel: Where were you raised? Every religion has one.
-Farscape
Not to contradict the great Dominar (although it wouldn’t be the first time someone did), but there are many pre-literate folk religions that don’t have any sacred texts. There’s also no universal sacred texts for Wiccans and Shinto doesn’t really have sacred texts. There are texts considered important, but I don’t think sacred would be the right word for them since they’re not considered divine.
Insistence doesn’t change reality.
Very insightful. I made vague mention of your god, and you immediately guessed correctly who I was talking about, and even offered Him a prayer. I wish I had such a keen gift for seeing to the end of allusions as you do.
Is a god a God though if we don’t think about that god as an God?
No, but most people do think of Reality as a god. But they don’t think He is a god. There’s an important distinction between thinking of one as something, and thinking one is something. One is conscious, the other is unconscious. People are perfectly capable of worshipping, praying to, and generally being religious towards someone they refuse to believe is a god.
For example, the Corpus very clearly treat Parvos Granum as a god, despite maintaining he’s only a man. It’s a very obvious contradiction. He maintains false humility.
How is reality a god? It’s not a being. It has no intelligence or agency. I can’t think of a definition of god that “reality” would fit.
Parvos Granum
My searching tells me that this is a character in a video game, which is a weird thing to reference when talking about actual beliefs.
No, but most people do think of Reality as a god.
But they don’t think He is a god
These two statements directly contradict eachother. Either you think of Reality as a god, or you do not. If you don’t think reality is a god, then you don’t think “he” is a god (wow, the tautology was weird to type).
Also, there are many examples of religious people who don’t think reality is a god. Deists, for example, believe that god showed up, made the universe, and left. Under that belief system, the deist god and the universe it created are two entirely separate things.
There’s also pantheons, where gods exist within their own higher reality with their own set of rules, limitations and powers that interact with our reality. Reality (either ours or the supernatural plane in these belief systems) are clearly separate from the gods operating under these rules.
People are perfectly capable of worshipping, praying to, and generally being religious towards someone they refuse to believe is a god.
What’s your opinion on people who do neither? That don’t believe in a god and don’t pray to anything either?
They don’t contradict. There’s a subtle difference, which is whether it’s conscious.
Take Donald Trump worshippers, for example. They think he’s a god, but they won’t admit it, even to themselves.
I said this to them above- I honestly cannot think of a way to define ‘reality’ as a god. The universe? Fine, that’s pantheism. But reality is an aspect of the universe, it isn’t the universe itself. Reality is just what we think is true. Truth is a god?
There are plenty of new age wuwu types that do define reality as a god. If I thought they had any legitimacy I wouldn’t be an atheist, but the core idea is that we essentially exist as constructs within the imagination of this god.
So basically simulation theory without the computer. Or I guess solipsism, but you’re not the one who exists.
