Originally Posted By: samwik
[quote=Revlgking] So, would you still be able to say, "...me too; and I bet we all like to think of G~O~D.... ;)"
Sam, you add
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I'd expect so; whatever their definition, most do....or did you mean "think of..."

... as only per your 'transcendent' definition?
... Sam, what makes my definition of 'god' a 'transcendent' one?

I also ask: What do the common terms 'religion','gods','god' and 'God'--as used in English Bibles, theological writings and by virtually all monotheists, non-theists and atheists--mean to you?

May I also ask your definition of 'theology'? Have you heard the definition given by atheists, some of whom like to pretend they have wit: Theology is a "science" without a subject. HA!HA!HA!
...
Here I add,
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Later, I will come back with my response to your definitions.

===========Meanwhile, I will save the following comments, by you, just in case ...
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Religion fulfills various 'personal' needs for individuals, and religion is often critiqued from this perspective.

However....

From a 'generational' perspective, religion serves various functions, such as transmitting traditions and memories over generations of families, across the centuries.

Before we had "strong and enduring" governments, corporations, or educational institutions, religions served the function of 'remembering' the culture, to a large extent, istm.

And many of the functions, which are now provided by various social institutions--from dating/marriage services to universities to insurance, were in the past only structured through the religious hierarchies.

I'm not saying it was always an 'either/or' situation, but as populations and societies grow, I'd expect that many of the functions, which religions once fulfilled at the social level (generational level), have waxed and waned historically many times over. ... but I'll stop digging this hole any deeper now.
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While religions help 'personally,' they also help the community; and it is these community functions and social functions that religions provide, which 'generational' was supposed to indicate. For instance, "Should religions take a moral stand on the treatment or plight of immigrants or indigenous peoples?" is a sort of 'generational' question one might ask.
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BAU "Business As Usual" is a political term, referring to economic choices and plans or strategies for the future. Choices might be between maximizing short-term profit or long-term sustainability, or finding a workable balance of the two goals ...to get pretty-good profit and pretty-good sustainability.

Especially in the global warming argument, and with the economic consequences caused by electric-power generation (and the fuels/methods used).

The BAU phrase is a significant social signpost. Governments, religions, and tax policies often hinge on how the Zeitgeist (spirit of the age, or spirit of the time; literally, TimeGhost) feels about BAU.
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G~O~D--Now & ForeverIS:Nature, Nurture & PNEUMA-ture, Thanks to Warren Farr&ME AT www.unitheist.org