Cause and causation

One tame poodle to another:
"Who created the universe,
Woof woof?"
"God created the universe,
Woof woof."
"Who created God,
Woof woof?"
"Nobody created God.
God has always existed,
Woof woof woof."

If the universe
Needs a cause,
Why doesn’t God
Need a cause?

And if God
Doesn’t need a cause,
Why should the universe
Need a cause?

If our personal agenda requires it,
We can posit:
"God has always existed."
But another equally valid personal agenda
Might posit:
"The universe has always existed."

And anyway,
If we posit:
"God has always existed,"
There is a consequential question
To address.
"How do you know?
Who was the privileged observer
Who noticed this fact
And told you about it?"

You might answer:
"God was the privileged observer.
He told me about it."
This then raises
A couple of other
Consequential questions:
"How do you know it was God
Speaking to you,
Rather than the wino
Behind you
In the fish shop?"
And: "If God did tell you this,
Why hasn't he said
Exactly the same thing
To all those people
Who are more intelligent than you?
Does God only communicate
With the brain-dead?"

There would appear
To be a problem here.
Can anyone see what it is?

Might the whole thing
Simply be
A matter of opinion;
A matter of personal superstition?


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Poodle parlour in Purley

The central question of the universe

The man behind him in the fish shop

More Norfolk koans

Creator creatrix creation creature

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Fundamentalists' Fellowship

Page update: 25.06.07

Serious students of the divine mysteries might consider becoming members of The Virtual Church of the Blind Chihuahua.

According to the local elders, this sacred place in cyberspace is named after a little old dog with cataracts, who barked sideways at strangers, because he couldn't see where they were. They suggest that we humans relate to God in the same way, making noise in God's general direction, and expecting a reward for doing so.

The Virtual Church of the Blind Chihuahua has a creed: "We can't be right about everything we believe. Thank God, we don't have to be! In other words, there is more to ethical monotheism than pleasing your imaginary friend."

On the church website, there is an essay by J.A.H.Futterman (1996) entitled: "Canned Theology - Junk Food for the Soul." In this he describes four conservative flavours of theology:

(1) God is just waiting to get you the minute you screw up. This is taken by many practitioners of the Abrahamic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — as the basis for moral behaviour. Since externally imposed order is repugnant even to those who believe in it, they occasionally rebel against such order, either openly, or by wilfully misinterpreting the commandments, as in: "Thou shalt not kill, except for that heretic over there."

(2) Christ died for your sins, so now you'd really better not screw up. This is the distinctively Christian form of the item above. God in the form of the God-Man, Jesus, allows himself to be murdered by bad people so he can come back from dead and say, "See, I died for you. Now you really owe me bigtime, so you better shape up!" In Games People Play, Eric Berne called this game, "Now I've Got You, You Son-of-a-Bitch!"

(3) You must build the Kingdom of God on earth by making it impossible for anyone else to screw up. When people are full of this one, they try to control the behaviour of people whose beliefs differ from theirs. Used in repressive legislation. Also a prime ingredient in recipes for religious and ethnic conflict. Used as a condiment in some liberal environmental agendas.

(4) You must purify God's Kingdom on earth by killing those who do screw up. This flavour is consumed by those who have no taste for mercy. Typically, when they partake of this one, they screw up bigtime.

The Virtual Church of the Blind Chihuahua can be found online here.

And The Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster can be visited here.


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How silly is salvation?

Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand!

What is the answer?

The unwisdom of belief

Fundamentalism is a closed room

Yoghurt shelves

Greenbelt - the view from the Death Star

Index of blog contents

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Fundamentalism is a closed room

Page update: 13.06.07

Alcuin: There's a lot of fear around.
Flutterby: There's a lot of America around.
Alcuin: I like pumpkin pie.
Flutterby: Why force pumpkin pie on people?
Alcuin: Pumpkin pie is nice.
Flutterby: Pumpkin pie is voluntary.
Alcuin: There's a lot of fear around.
Flutterby: There's a lot of America around.
Alcuin: I like democracy.
Flutterby: Why force democracy on people?
Alcuin: Democracy is good for the soul.
Flutterby: Democracy is voluntary.
Alcuin: Is America the greatest exporter of state fundamentalism the world has ever seen?
Flutterby: Yes.
Alcuin: What is fundamentalism?
Flutterby: Fundamentalism is a closed room.
The door is shut and the curtains are pulled.
In the corner is a single book.
The book is out of date.
Alcuin: Is America out of date?
Flutterby: Yes.
Alcuin: What can be done?
Flutterby: That's what the fundamentalist asks.
Alcuin: There's a lot of fear around.
Flutterby: There's a lot of America around.
Alcuin: America is the biggest country in the world.
Flutterby: America is the smallest country in the world.
Alcuin: Pumpkin pie is taking over.
Flutterby: Pumpkin pie must be stopped.


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Fundamentalists' Fellowship

Estuary Hermeneutics

Lost nation

The unwisdom of belief

Yoghurt shelves

More Norfolk koans

Index of blog contents

Spirituality websites worth watching