God By Any Other Name

God exists because we exist. You can call it by any other name, but there     is no doubt that a superior life which created us exists. And you can call the source of this life God, or give it any other name.

Giuseppe Mazzini

(He was one of the leaders of the Unification of Italy in the 1800’s)

Cited in Calendar of Wisdom

The language about God has always been a disconcerting and often exasperating experience. 

This was never more true than during my active decades in ministry; when my pastoral task was to present religious and spiritually minded teachings to a wide spectrum of religious beliefs that ranged from the mystical believers to the militant atheists! 

At times, I found myself struggling to find an acceptable word to use, or to more fully appreciate where the person was coming from in their perceptions of God through their education and life experiences.

While I have confidently been at the forefront of gender inclusive language for God, I have had more reservations when others have tried to strip away any of the transcendent, mystical, or Mythopoetic concepts, and make any reference to divinity a substitute for science or reason.

From my earliest religious studies through my ministry and doctoral research( including the feminine dimension to both language and embodiment was far too long neglected) my views were pushed to the margins of orthodoxy by the patriarchal history of Biblical and religious research and interpretation. For me, the discovery and active affirmation of the feminine was welcomed, and I believe is essential for any approach to wholeness or completeness when trying to comprehend the fullness or allness of God.

 Where the friction and consternation came from was the insistence that nature was just nature; that science was just science; and that neither one pointed to a spiritual consideration that was beyond human curiosity and wonderment! There was an absence of awe, reverence, and sense of the transcendent that was very troubling for me. We do not live in a merely mechanical universe, nor do we find ourselves able to adequately explain the seemingly miraculous parts of life that cannot be broken down or scientifically measured.

Maybe the most common difficulty is found in the use of the term “God.” It has been the source of so much religious baggage and pressure, so much judgment and shame. I can fully appreciate how those kinds of formative experiences serve to create the atheist as an adult!

It is a tragedy that, for me, requires redemption and reconciliation. Among those who label themselves as atheists or agnostics, I have surprisingly found that many of these doubters and militant objectors have a sense of the sacred for them; they have a curious and reverent soul– They just object strenuously to their accumulated childhood ideas of God and Spirit.  

Looking back, it is a case of “whatever you call it” it can be a word that is less hostile to your memory and more present to your adult reality… or can be God for you…