The God Delusion

[Yowie]

I've just started reading _The_God_Delusion_ by Richard Dawkins. So far he's
distinguished the difference between the "Einsteinan God" and the "Creator
God". The "Einsteinian God" is a metaphor for nature or the mysteries of the
universe, and therefore doesn't need to be disputed. What he takes an axe at
is the idea of a creator God that deserves to be worshipped.

Fair enough, the 'Creator God that deserves to be worshipped' covers many of
the world's religions, although Dawkins so far seems to want to take an axe
particualrly tot he Abrahamic ones.

But I'm not sure that the deities of Wicca are "Creator Gods that deserve to
be worshipped". Fromw hat I"ve read of Wicca, the Goddess & God don't
generally have the "omni" characteristics that the God of the Abrahamic
religions do (omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence), and are not
necessarily creator-gods of "the whole universe" if anything.

What of the God that is anthropomorphisation "the nature and mysteries of
the Universe"? Or the God that is "our higher selves"? Or even the "aspect
of Great Unknowable". Are these "Einsteinian Gods"? of some form or another,
because they seem quite common in Wicca.

Heck, there are even some of us (well, me) who, having gone through a bout
of hard athiesm, decided the world made more sense if there was some sort of
Supernatural Force out there, and explained parituclarly well some of the
religious experiences I've had. Therefore I have created my own "Deity" out
of need - is this still an Einsteinian God?

I'll keep reading the book, I like the way the man thinks and I do like the
argument that religious belief (as opposed to any other belief) should hold
no special place in society. But I get this feeling sometimes that he's
missed out on having a 'mystical experience' and is therefore is akin to
writing about 'what is the big deal about sex' when the author has never
even had an orgasm. Yes, religion has been wrapped around these 'mystical
experiences', perhaps falsely, but there are still loads of people having
said mystical experiences. Are all those people suffering delusions, or are
they just being human beings?

Yowie
--
"because its more fun to be evil" - Jarppi, _The Dudesons_