god - The Skeptic's Dictionary

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head><title>god - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="_style/style.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="_style/printstyle.css" media="print"/> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="s1.ico"> <script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.0"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script>  <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-5487a05a7e027f30" async="async"></script>  </head> <body><br /> <div class="container"> <div class="header"> <div class="logo"> <img src="_images/logo_01.png" alt="The Skeptic's Dictionary" width="270" height="60" border="0" />           <br /> by <a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/bio.html">Robert Todd Carroll</a> * est. 1994 </div> <div class="slogan"> <img src="_images/slogan_01.gif" alt="A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions" width="362" height="30" /> </div> </div> <div class="menu"> <ul> <li></li><li><a href="http://skepdic.com/">Home</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/news/">Newsletter</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/feedback.html">Feedback</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/faq.html">FAQ & Interviews</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tour.html">Site Map</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="middle"> <div class="left"> <h2>Topical Indexes</h2> <ul class="nav_1"> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tialtmed.html">Alternatives to Medicine</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/ticriticalthinking.html">Critical Thinking</a></li> 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<li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#I">i</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#J">j</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#K">k</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#L">l</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#M">m</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#N">n</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#O">o</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#P">p</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Q">q</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#R">r</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#S">s</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#T">t</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#U">u</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#V">v</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#W">w</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#X">x</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Y">y</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Z">z</a></li> </ul> <webContent> <h1>gods<a href="#note">*</a></h1> <blockquote> <span class="quote">"The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."</span> --Albert Einstein<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/may/12/peopleinscience.religion">*</a> </blockquote> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3">A god is a being created by humans and given supernatural powers or attributes such as immortality, omniscience, <a href="kinesis.html"> telekinesis</a>, and invisibility. These creations serve many purposes, such as imaginary protection from enemies or explanations for the origin of such things as good and evil, fire and wind, or life and death.</font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3">Gods are often the central figures around which religions are built. It is often claimed that religion began in fear and superstition. The same might be said for gods.</font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3">Some religions maintain that there is just one god and that all the gods of all religions except theirs were created by human beings. Yet, everyone who believes in a god of some sort believes their god is real.</font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3">Since gods are supernatural, they exist outside the bounds and laws of space and time. They can possess any of an infinite array of magical powers. Hence, there is no way to prove or disprove their reality. One might say: If gods exist, anything goes!</font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><b>See also </b> <a href="antitheism.html">anti-theism</a>, <a href="atheism.html">atheism</a>, <a href="magicalthinking.html">magical thinking</a>, <a href="http://skepdic.com/satan.html">Satan</a>, <a href="theist.html">theist</a>, and </font><font size="3"> my <a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/dawkins.html">review of <i>The God Delusion</i></a></font><font face="Arial" size="3">.</font></p> <p style="text-align: left">__________</p> <p style="text-align: left"><a name="note" id="note">note</a>: I explain why I lowercase reference to all gods, even those whose proper name is Jehovah or El <a href="http://skepdic.com/news/newsletter1103.html">elsewhere</a>.</p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><b><a href="../comments/godcom6.html">reader comments</a></b> </font> </p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><b>further reading</b> </font> </p> <p style="text-align: left"><b><font size="3">books and articles</font></b></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0393008312/roberttoddcarrolA/">Freud, Sigmund. <i>The Future of an Illusion</i> (1927).</a></font></p> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <p align="left"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0393327655/roberttoddcarrolA/"> Harris, Sam. (2005).<i> The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason</i>. W. W. Norton.</a></p> </font> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0393008312/roberttoddcarrolA/"> Freud, Sigmund. <i>The Future of an Illusion</i> (1927).</a> </font></p> <p><font size="3"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0060097957/roberttoddcarrolA/"> Hecht, Jennifer Michael. 2004. <i> Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson.</i> HarperOne.</a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/hobbes/leviathan-b.html">Hobbes, Thomas. <i>Leviathan </i>(1651), ch. XII, "Of Religion."</a></font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Arial"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0805077766/roberttoddcarrolA/"> Jacoby, Susan. (2005). <i>Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism</i>. Owl Books.</a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font size="3"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=159102529X/roberttoddcarrolA/"> Lalli, Nica. 2007. <i>Nothing - something to believe in. </i>Prometheus<i>. </i></a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1591023815/roberttoddcarrolA/"> Martin, Michael and Ricki Monnier. Editors. (2006). <i>The Improbability of God</i>. Prometheus.</a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0345440331/roberttoddcarrolA/">Newberg, Andrew M.D., Eugene G. D'Aquili and Vince Rause. <i>Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief </i>(Ballantine Books, 2001).</a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0275926486/roberttoddcarrolA/">Persinger, Michael. <em>Neuropsychological Bases of God Beliefs</em> (Praeger Pub Text., 1987).</a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/homer1a.htm">Smith, Homer. <i>Man and His Gods</i>, foreword by Albert Einstein (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1952). </a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.yesselman.com/ttpelws1.htm">Spinoza, Baruch de. <i>Theologico-Political Treatise</i> (1670).</a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1591024811/roberttoddcarrolA/"> Stenger, Victor. (2007). <i>God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist.</i> Prometheus.</a></font><p style="text-align: left"> <b><font face="Arial" size="3">websites</font></b></p> <p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.flutterby.com/archives/1999_Jul/19_GodsTotalQualityManagementQuestionnaire.html"> God's Total Quality Management Questionnaire</a></font><p style="text-align: left"> <b> <font size="3" face="Arial">news stories</font></b></p> <p style="text-align: left"> <font size="3" face="Arial">A Harris poll in June 2005 found that 64% of American adults believe human beings were created directly by a god. 54% do not think human beings developed from earlier species</font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font size="3" face="Arial"> <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2865009.stm">God on the Brain By Liz Tucker BBC Horizon 3/20/03</a></font></p> <p></webContent>Last updated 27-Oct-2015 </p> </div> </div> <div class="right"> <div class="right_it"> <div class="search"> <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="_top"> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="skepdic.com" /> <input type="text" name="q" maxlength="255" value="" size="20" /> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" /> <br /> <div class="search_2"> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="" /> Web     <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="skepdic.com" checked="checked" /> Skepdic.com <br /> <img src="_images/logo_google.gif" alt="Google" width="48" height="19" /> </div> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-3542920166946725" /> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1" /> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1" /> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;" /> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en" /> </form> </div> <div class="center"> <p align="right"><a href="http://skepdic.com/authorpage.html"><strong>Books by R. 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