Saturday, December 17, 2011

Phil Zuckerman Interview

Recently on Culture Shocks Barry Lyn Interviewed Phil Zuckerman. It was a very interesting interview that I would recommend listening to highly. There were a number of questions and points I thought should have been elaborated on but in a set time frame it is impossible to cover everything.

One point I would have loved to have added to involved the question of whether the belief in God has to include the idea of perfection. It does not. However, removing perfection as a trait of God does change quite a bit. Many theists seem to think removing this trait solves a lot of inconsistencies and contradictions. It might but it also opens up a whole other set. It, among other things, opens the door to polytheism. If God is perfect and therefore all powerful there can be no other source of power. This eliminates the possibility of other gods. If God is not perfect then God is not all powerful which means there is no reason not believe other gods are not possible. After all, there is no other species that is limited to a single specimen. It also leaves open the implication that the Christian god is not eternal, is not the source of all things, and can be supplanted by another being. All points that Christian theology, regardless of sect/denomination, all vehemently deny. Basically, if theists want their god to be God, the one true god, then perfection is required. Back to square one and all its absurdities.

No comments:

Post a Comment