God is the Great Whatever. God is “un-getable” — we just can’t “get” the idea of God like we get algebra or something. Yeah.<\/p>\n
I like this lady’s use of words. And yeah also to her plan to talk about our partnerships with God, not argue about what we have decided He\/She\/It is like. Her new discussion sounds worth joining. — +Katia<\/p>\n
CAN WE TALK ABOUT FAITH, NOT RELIGION?<\/a><\/p>\n By Martha Woodroof I am a person of faith who is not religious. By this I mean that while I\u00c2\u00a0live in partnership with God, the great Whatever, I claim no knowledge of\u00c2\u00a0God’s relatives, nature and modus operandi. I believe that everything about\u00c2\u00a0God beyond the simple fact of Its existence and availability is beyond my\u00c2\u00a0understanding and so beyond the scope of my words. I make no claim to wisdom\u00c2\u00a0of any kind about God, only to experience with God.<\/p>\n That’s why I decided to start Faith Unboxed<\/a> ,\u00c2\u00a0which I hope will be an unconventional online conversation about living\u00c2\u00a0one’s faith rather than practicing (or preaching) one’s religion. I’d much\u00c2\u00a0rather talk about how we experience God than argue about what we have\u00c2\u00a0decided about God, wouldn’t you?<\/p>\n As I’m not a pundit, a preacher, or a scholar, deciding to host such a\u00c2\u00a0faith-centric conversation about the great Whatever leaves me wide open to\u00c2\u00a0charges of uppityness. What’s the deal here, lady? You think you get God and\u00c2\u00a0the rest of us don’t? Not exactly: What I think is that a) God is\u00c2\u00a0intrinsically un-getable; and b) most of our current conversation about God\u00c2\u00a0and God’s doings ignores this, conflating practicing one’s religion and\u00c2\u00a0living one’s faith.<\/p>\n God, the great Whatever, is ubiquitous in American thinking, society,\u00c2\u00a0politics, literature, architecture, conversation — even, through\u00c2\u00a0quarterback Tim Tebow’s facial paint in college football. I would wager\u00c2\u00a0heavily that none of us escapes growing up without a kissing concept of the\u00c2\u00a0great Whatever–some idea implanted in our brains by our elders about what\u00c2\u00a0we’re supposed to believe or not believe about God’s presence, doings,\u00c2\u00a0relatives, etc. As adults, we may decide to accept those ideas, modify them,\u00c2\u00a0rebel against them, or turn our backs on the whole confusing mishmash. But\u00c2\u00a0we have all most likely decided something about God.<\/p>\n What we don’t often do as adults — whether because we lack inclination or\u00c2\u00a0courage or imagination — is to acknowledge that God, in order to be God,\u00c2\u00a0exists completely detached from any human conception of God. The great\u00c2\u00a0Whatever is only what the great Whatever is, not what our parents, pundits,\u00c2\u00a0preachers or priests say It is. Or for that matter, what they say It isn’t.<\/p>\n So . . . with all due respect, it seems to me desperately wasteful, arrogant\u00c2\u00a0and cowardly for us humans to argue so much about religion — i.e. our\u00c2\u00a0human-sized conceptions of God’s aforementioned relatives, nature and modus\u00c2\u00a0operandi. Missing from most of these battles is any recognition that if God\u00c2\u00a0is, God is also beyond our comprehension. We can never know about God in the\u00c2\u00a0same way we know about chickens or algebra or documented history; elaborate\u00c2\u00a0and compelling religious stories explaining God and God’s family are still\u00c2\u00a0stories. Insisting that these stories are true, or even integral parts of\u00c2\u00a0our relationship with God, seems to me to confuse the value of accepting\u00c2\u00a0what humans have said about God with the value of living in partnership with\u00c2\u00a0God.<\/p>\n Arguing about God is, of course, much less troublesome and anxiety-provoking\u00c2\u00a0than taking on the demands and responsibilities of a partnership with the\u00c2\u00a0Almighty. Indeed, the challenges of any organized religion (or those other\u00c2\u00a0God-in-a-box concepts, atheism and agnosticism) begin to seem like\u00c2\u00a0effortless glides on greased grooves when compared to the challenges of\u00c2\u00a0living one’s faith. Perhaps that’s why there’s been a great deal of public\u00c2\u00a0wrangling about the fine points of religion and very little useful public\u00c2\u00a0exploration of what it means to live and work together — in this world at\u00c2\u00a0this time — as persons of faith.<\/p>\n I hope this online conversation starts such an exploration. I challenge you\u00c2\u00a0to join me in thinking beyond everything we’ve come to accept about the\u00c2\u00a0great Whatever through habit, upbringing, learned ritual and doctrine. I\u00c2\u00a0challenge us, instead, to explore afresh the meaning and responsibilities of\u00c2\u00a0faith, of living in active partnership with God, both as an individual and\u00c2\u00a0in community. And I challenge us to do this exploration fearlessly, with\u00c2\u00a0uncensored curiosity and open-mindedness.<\/p>\n To give our conversation structure, over the next 12 months, I’ll post a\u00c2\u00a0dozen questions (one each month) along with my own short (for the most part)\u00c2\u00a0answers. My hope is that you will post your own answers and then respond to\u00c2\u00a0each others’ posts. Civility and respect are the only criteria for\u00c2\u00a0participation. This means no talk of burning in hell or scholarly howls of\u00c2\u00a0derision.<\/p>\n Join me here at On Faith the first Sunday of each month for a look at the\u00c2\u00a0question. Join me every day at Faith Unboxed for the discussion. Is it\u00c2\u00a0possible to have an open, useful and civil online conversation about faith,\u00c2\u00a0not religion? We shall see.<\/p>\n ………..<\/p>\n Martha Woodroof freelances for NPR and writes, reports, and blogs for public\u00c2\u00a0radio station WMRA in Virginia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" God is the Great Whatever. God is “un-getable” — we just can’t “get” the idea of God like we get algebra or something. Yeah. I like this lady’s use of words. And yeah also to her plan to talk about our partnerships with God, not argue about what we have decided He\/She\/It is like. 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\nWashington Post
\nApril 30, 2010<\/p>\n