At SFGATE:
The primary difficult with God isn’t belief–more than 80% of US responders tell pollsters that they believe God exists. The problem is that God is irrelevant, providing few if any practical benefits in daily life. In an age of faith the circumstances were in God’s favor. When people got sick or died, had a run of bad luck, committed immoral acts, received unexpected rewards, or couldn’t have children–the list of situations was endless–God was invoked to explain why. In one way or another, the deity was interwoven into the fabric of daily life.
In a new book, The Future of God, my pivotal argument is that God only has a future if he (or she) becomes useful once more. We can think of this as God 2.0. Such as shift would have to happen on a level different from faith. Modern secular society isn’t going to reverse history and return to prescientific ways. A new avenue has to open, and it has. We are facing unprecedented circumstances in which God suddenly becomes relevant. These new circumstances extend into many areas of our existence.
– Millions of people have experienced a lack of meaning in a lifestyle devoted to money, career, and success.
— Isolated individuals are unable to resolve the enormous problem of climate change, despite their best intentions. More.
Maybe the government will fund God 2.0 for mental health and environment reasons? It’s quite clear that no claim is being made that God actually exists, outside people’s heads, but that manipulating the idea of God may be a useful therapy.
What’s really interesting is the historically forgetful claim that “Modern secular society isn’t going to reverse history and return to prescientific ways.”
That has happened many times in history, and seems to be happening today, as polio workers, for example, are killed in Pakistan by “insurgents” and militants wage war against “Western education,” which for all practical purposes means education generally, in Africa.
It happened, famously, after the collapse of the Roman Empire when roving vandals destroyed irreplaceable manuscripts of ancient learning, including science. Of course, if one can recover earlier knowledge, one can pick up where others left off – but that’s no help to those who endure the intervening years.
Hat tip: Stephanie West Allen at Brains on Purpose
Follow UD News at Twitter!