Time to Get Rid of God?

"If the concept of God has any validity or can be of use, it can only be to make us larger, freer and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him."

-- James Baldwin

God is love. Or so they say. Yet so many people use the concept of God not to unify but to divide. My God's better than your God. My God can beat up your God. Or, My God is the only God. It's all hogwash.

The question we might well ask ourselves is "Why do we need a God at all?" The myths and stories surrounding God, in each and every tradition, are second rate literature at best. The powers ascribed to Him are just as mythical. The toadying we must do to appease Him is downright disgusting. It seems that the only thing that the God idea really provides is a false sense of security paired with a bogus sense of superiority. Illusions that do nothing to "make us larger, freer and more loving."

Do we really need an "eye in the sky" to make us love our fellow human beings? Do we really need the carrot of heaven or the stick of hell to make us shape up and be better and bigger people? God, I hope not! If we really believe that we need an external agent to be on our best behavior, we're in hell already!

All the questions that God supposedly answers are unanswerable, anyway. How was the Universe created? Why is there suffering and evil? What is the right way to live? What happens after death? Be Honest: Nobody really knows the answers to these questions. All the answers we have are simply made up. Isn't it better, as Iris Dement sings, to "let the mystery be?" Mystery is surely the more existentially and spiritually honest choice, even though it fails to provide us with the false security of theology and dogma.

So today's Sunday -- a perfect day to tell the old fellow, God that is, to take a hike. Nice knowing you there Big G, but I really don't think we need you around here anymore. Yes, today is the day to downsize God! You can outsource, or in this case "insource", his duties to your own soul. Parsimony in action.

And now, (drum roll, please), it is totally your response-ability to become larger, freer and more loving. Conscious evolution at its finest. Enjoy!