| | Pivotal Question #4 -- What is God's relation to the world and to man?
"God" is a vague concept, which depending on context, stands for creator, authority, orchestrator, ideal form.
God is an arbitrary concept -- not derivable from perception or reason.
I should think the concept of a god was derived from both, since it indeed exists. Even unicorns exist and serve a purpose.
In a political sense, the concept of God is, orchestratively, utilitarian (think Marx: aka "the opium of the masses"). But in a principled sense (note the contradistinction of the political, with the principled!), God can only be a manipulative concept (there is NO other way that the concept of God can be viewed). An otherworldly dictum for a sacrifice here and now (for the sake of some ineffible future gain, in some unfathomable heavenly paradise).
Theists often argue "God" is the source of natural rights and freedom:
http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights...
Of course, most here no doubt attribute these to our identity as rational animals. But to such theists, to deny god is to deny independence.
belief in God requires a rejection of the foundation of human consciousness (ie. a rejection of evidential reasoning, as the standard for truth).
Not necessarily. Ignorance usually suffices, and since our knowledge is incomplete, ignorance doesn't necessarily demand rejection or even abscense of reason.
Conclusion:
The idea of God's existence is ultimately arbitrary and, therefore, not even worthy of a focus of our limited mental time and energy (soft atheism)
Often problems (fields and diffusion come to mind) are solved by considering an "arbitrary", fictitious test-charge or particle, and acting on it according to principles to analyse a systems evolution.
"God" can be posited, indeed the concept of which has been and remains, an arbitrary starting point for an ultimately integrated philosophy. Rand acknowledged such.
Besides, its best not to take candy from children. Especially armed children. Demonstrate that what they're eating will rot their teeth, then show them how cook with the sugar, than eat it raw.
Scott
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