Ellis writes
Accept (the fact that) we are the children of choas. There is no designer, life is what we make of it...
Ellis, I presume that by saying this you are telling us that you are a moral/ethical and positive atheist. Right? You admit that you cannot prove there is no god, therefore, you have the BELIEF/FAITH that there is no god.
Incidentally, I feel you are advocating what is called the Golden Rule. And yes, I accept it is possible for atheists to keep it.
Practically speaking, panentheism/unitheism--that is, process theology--is on the same track. However, process theology focusses on, believes in, and is willing to ACT on the positive possibility that the Cosmos, in its mysterious totality, is G?D. If we approach G?D, with faith, hope and love, we can create a Garden of Eden; if we appraoch it with cynicism, fear, doubt and despair, we make it a Hell.
IMHO, G?D stands for moral/GOODNESS, mathematical/ORDER and artistic/DESIGN. By the way, about evidence for G?D:
1. With the help of my physical senses, I am fairly certain that the physical Cosmos is there. Therefore, I have physical evidence for G?D.
2. With the help of the sciences, I am finding out more and more about the nature and function of the Cosmos, daily.Therefore, I have mental evidence for G?D.
3. Inspired by what Kant called, "the moral imperative" I have a strong feeling that, as St. Paul puts it in Romans 8: "G?D in and through all things works together for good". This gives me moral evidence for G?D.
I may not be free to DO all the good I ought to do, but I do have the power to make the choice to do them. And I have the feeling that, if I willingly make that choice, I will be given the power, from the Spirit of G?D within me. In others words, I will be given the power to choose to be loving--towards my world, my fellow human beings, and myself.
I NEED TO BE AWARE OF IDOLATRY
IMHO, I always need to be careful. Whether I create a god out of wood or stone, or with my imagination, it is still idolatry. G?D, for me, must not a personal or objective being which I can create, even with my mind. G?D in not one who exists in time and space. G?D, as total universal and all-encompassing, physical, mental and spiritual existence, itself, is the ineffable, the unimagineable.
BTW, I am not preaching a religion, or a dogma, here, which I expect others to accept without question, or else. I am simply proposing the free and open discussion of the philosophy/psychology, doctrines, rituals, and policies of all religions, including what I believe.
If your theism, or atheism, is helping you have faith, hope and love, and helping you bring some order (cosmos) out of the physical, moral and ethical chaos of life, well and good. This is what unitheism is doing for me.
