¶ … God have a future?
The historian of religion Karen Armstrong asks this question in her essay of the same name, as she addresses God from the perspective of the monotheistic religious traditions. For Armstrong, God is a methodology or a paradigm by which human beings have attempted to understand their world, humanity's place in the world, and humanity's location in a cosmos that is larger than any one individual. Armstrong's analysis suggests that she believes there is a God, if for no other reason that the concept of the divine has had such a crucial and significant role in the evolution of human history. Although she may no longer locate her own religious world view within the confines of one specific theological framework or faith, clearly the author's personal and intellectual grappling with the concept of the divine over the complex course of her own life, in the lives of others, and the traditions of the world has formed the teleological justification for her own study as an academic and also as a human being.
Armstrong's understanding of religion as a social practice of ritual, community, and shared ideals, as well as personal faith may seem to deviate from the common, Western, American tradition that holds religion to be a purely personal and private affair, split off from the social and presumably secular activities of the day. For Armstrong, religion and cultural understanding are indisputably joined. One cannot understand religion without understanding the culture that produced such an understanding of God, and vice versa -- one cannot understand a culture without comprehending the limits of its philosophical and theological underpinnings.
However, the plurality and diversity of religions points-of-view in the world does not render the concept of 'God' absurd, rather it is a testimony to humanity's diverse needs in conceptualizing the divine. God has a future because the concept of God can change with time and with the needs of humanity, rather than remain static. Similarly, over the course of an individual's own life, one's relationship with God and the religious institutions one was brought up with, may change, depending on where one is and one's location in the journey of life.
God's Knowledge in the Thinker's Guide to God by Peter Vardy and Julie Arliss (2003) In The Thinker's Guide to God, the author Peter Vardy asks the question, did human beings 'make' God and did humans make the various conceptions of goodness that they have attached to God? Or is it possible to detach such concepts as a God that exists in space and time apart from the very varied conceptions
God and Creation Has the concept of God well and truly woven itself into the very psyche of the average American citizen? What exactly does the average American think about God? As a matter of fact, each and every American must take some time to sit back and think deeply about these issues, and also pay close attention to the power and influence of God in the history of America. Perhaps
God and Science The art of philosophy, demonstrated throughout history in all its arguments, present certain obstacles and contextual distortion for the state of humanity. There is no doubt it is worthwhile then, to examine some of the most troubling and difficult philosophical issues of the day. The idea of God and its role in humanity and its science will probably never be settled however the discussion itself helps create new
God was not part of the original pledge written in 1892 and adopted by Congress 50 years later as a wartime patriotic tribute. Congress inserted the "under God" phrase in 1954, amid the Cold War when some U.S. religious leaders sermonized against "godless communists." (Gearan) Works Cited All Things Considered. "Interview: Dr. John W. Baer discusses the history of the Pledge of Allegiance" All Things Considered (NPR reprint) 6/27 (2002). Baker, Tod
God's Activity In Men's Lives God's Active Role How many people look for God's activity in their lives, and never come up with the evidence? Yet, in the lives of Mary Rowlandson, and Ben Franklin, they recognized the working of The Almighty in their every day circumstances. Maybe it was that they didn't look for God to prove himself to them, but they acknowledged that the Almighty God is always at work.
Answer to an Atheist We are mortals and cannot possible know the will of God. God does perform miracles in our lives, if we only stop to pay heed to them. If one takes a bunch of parts and random parts and pieces, gives them to a chimpanzee, and asks them to assemble a car from them, an Atheist would have one believe that eventually they would do it through random
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