Secular Theology

People are non-believers from birth and this until someone tells them about some "divine" bully. At that point, either they become atheists, in relation to “the” god, or get down on their knees to worship.

True, when one is facing a real bully, especially a brutal one, one may not have any choice but force-submit. Think of the people who, among others, had to deal with the Romans, the Huns or the Mongols; either force-submit or be, thoroughly, annihilated.

But, what about those people who can't wait to self-submit at the feet of bullies? Those who, seemingly, need to imagine the worst of the worst? And who, rather than wait to actually be confronted with the worst monsters, dragged from the deepest recesses of their worst nightmares, grovel, right now, as if this gratuitous gesture could, and would, earn them brownie points?

What about those who believe that, if  they ever meet "their maker", all those hours of worship will be taken into account? Not only might this, abject grovelling, temper the wrath of their “supposed Lord and Master', it might actually qualify them for extraordinary rewards?

And what about, if the bully, those pious churchgoers eventually face, is not the bully they so, fervently, worshipped? What if the bully they worshipped... doesn't care? Or turns out to be the Wizard of Oz?

What then?

Personally, I would rather start, this quest, by “Defining Godhood”. At the very least, I would try to make sure that I am not like the man who went out to buy tomatoes and came back with turnips; simply because he didn’t have the foggiest notion of what tomatoes were. I certainly would not want to settle for the turnips, instead of tomatoes, simply because I did not know either.

And, insofar as I am dealing with the concept of God, I would declare myself a Secular Theist. A hard core, non-believer, intent on using the Definition of Godhood, in dealing with the concept of god, the same way scientists dealt with... the Higgs Boson.

Furthermore, rather than willingly get down on my knees, to show that I am less than I can be, and strive to prove that I can be even less than what I have become, I would stand up, on my own two feet, full height, and would demand be counted as a self-motivated, first-class and full-fledged Human Being.

Then and only then, using the Definition of Godhood, would I set out to find God.

Guy Rocheleau
grocheleau255@yahoo.ca