Atheism in the USA

[Undertoad]

If the idea of God is just a representation of the sum total of all human potential through all time, the top of the hierarchy of values, and a word for the (mostly Darwinian) forces that guide us, that we cannot hope to completely understand, I believe in all of that.

It looks like everybody just made a human mistake and over-personified that concept, and now God is "Sky Daddy Who Controls Everything And Judges Us". If instead of that, God is everything above, then we are the judges all along, and what is Godlike is what best serves our potential.

We have doubled life expectancy, answered a lot of the problem of pain, managed to harness the creation of life, describe the physical rules that govern the world... from the perspective of someone 1000 years ago, WE are God. We answered our own prayers. We don't have the cures for all of our own ills -- after centuries of the Enlightenment, we are still extremely confused. (Which is very interesting!)

But we try to advance humanity's future. Even as we won't be there to experience it. That is service towards God, the representation of humanity over time.