This is a new blog I am creating. I would like to mention my other blog at http://www.scirelfaith.blogspot.com/. You should check it out.

But I am finished with that one and am on to a new topic. I have become interested in all the different ways that people I know and people I hear in the mass media refer to their belief in god (or gods). Recently a friend said that he was sick of thinking about god - that the whole subject was obviously a confusing mess. After digesting what he said, I realized that is exactly what I find most interesting about it. I am intrigued by the contradictions and the accommodations people make to resolve those contradictions. I want to understand how and why they attempt to define it in a way that fits their lives, needs, and preconceptions. It's very clear that this 3 letter word is used to refer to an almost innumerable collection of beings, concepts, or forces. This blog is going to try to list and describe as many of them as I can.

By acknowledging and cataloging the most common uses of this term, an underlying theme will emerge, and it is this: if the many uses of "god" are so different, they can't all be true in the sense that things in the "real world" are true. And if this is the case, then likely none of them are true. They can't all be true in the same sense that the assertion, "my car is in the garage", is either true or it is not. In other words, for them all to be true they could only be true to the extent that it is permitted to deviate from the "classic laws of thought" where something is either true or it isn't, and if it's true, then it's opposite can't also be true. Of course they can all be "true" in the sense that everyone has their own truth (whatever that means, if it even means anything...). If we allow it to be the case that every one can have their own "equally valid" version of god, then this would make it unique in the domain of "important concepts". For example, although there are some normal personal variances in definition, we all basically agree on what is denoted by the terms life, death, love, hate, night, day, mine, yours, etc. If each person has their own definition for god, and if this is "ok", then there is really nothing to discuss. It becomes a personal matter, and a trivial one at that - no more worth talking about than the differences between your favorite song or color or soft drink and mine.

By the way, it's going to be lower case "god" from this point on, because as you will quickly see, I look at the subject from an academic and sociological perspective, not as a believer. This blog is going to have a lot of entries following this, as I finish thinking them out. So, enjoy.