Militant atheism has become a religion

[backscatter712]

37. Is God an anthropomorphic deity with superpowers, or is he a metaphor?

The way I'm reading your post, it seems that you use God as a metaphor for your conscience - you're being Godly when you're acting decently towards other people, and you're being ungodly when you're being nasty to people.

That's cool - I use metaphor all the time - for diplomatic purposes, I sometimes use the metaphor of God being the universe, invoke Carl Sagan, and transform from an atheist to a Spinozan, so I can have a civilized conversation with people who get triggered by the word "atheist."

But it seems possible to me (though you'd have to confirm my hypothesis) that neither of us literally believe in the anthropomorphic man in the sky with superpowers who's obsessed with our day-to-day behavior. I suppose I could interpret that by saying that we're both atheists.

The problem is that there are a lot of people who do believe in the man in the sky with superpowers, and who give authority to the people who claim to speak for the superhero, and thus end up getting manipulated, often in destructive ways. To them, I say challenge your beliefs - the only thing you have to lose is your chains!