Introduction:
History's Most Dangerous Idea - A Human God
by Wendell Krossa
(From the series "Creating A Horizontal God", Copyright, W. Krossa)

*The Movement Toward New Views Of God  *Shaping New Views Of God

The Movement Toward New Views Of God

A truly human God challenges all conventional values and shakes conventional society to the core. A human God advocates for justice as mercy and compassion, not as punishment. He promotes success as sharing and giving, not as accumulating greed. And he undermines conventional leadership that is widely viewed as domination and control of others. A human God leads toward a more human future by inspiring example of love and service, not by coercing command. 

Ancient ideas of God or gods are at the root of many of our contemporary ideas, attitudes, and practices. Unfortunately, for most of human history ideas of God have embodied some of the nastiest features of animal existence. When god consciousness first began to emerge, ancient peoples shaped their earliest views of gods by projecting some of the harshest and most barbaric features of their existence onto their views of gods. Those inhuman views of gods eventually became the dominant views of God embodied in the major world religions. The essential humanity of God has long been clouded by such inhumanity. 

For instance, punishment continues as a widely accepted idea and practice in most societies on earth. Whether in schools, families, the workplace, or other social institutions- everywhere in life there is punishment for failing to strictly adhere to systems of law.

But it is now known that modern ideas of punishment originated with ancient myths of angry gods who punished people through disease, natural disaster and conflict. That was a tragic misunderstanding and distortion of God that has continued into the present. 

From the earliest times, strict payback for mistakes or unlawful behavior (even to the point of taking human life) was assumed to be a fundamental law of the universe and life. Out of that idea of payback there developed subsequent ideas of appeasing angry gods through blood sacrifices. These harsh views of punishment were projected onto the earliest views of gods and have been lodged there ever since. But barbaric features like punishment have never been realities essential to the human God. 

While punishment is a barbaric idea and practice, moderns rarely stop to question it or its pagan origins, because most people unthinkingly accept it as having originated with God or the gods. Far too often in human existence, things considered to be divine in origin are not open to question, challenge, or change. That pathetic acquiescence in the face of supposedly God-given realities has resulted in far too much misery and suffering among human beings. It is time to declare we are as mad as hell and we refuse to take it anymore. A truly human God forgives endlessly.

Dominating vertically-oriented relationships (superior/inferior) are another barbaric social practice rooted in ancient patterns of domination by patriarchal gods. In the pre-BC era, even Aristotle argued that submission in hierarchy was "the individual's dutiful subordination to a God-given immutable social order" (Ronald Cohen and Elman Service. 1978. Origins of the State: The Anthropology of Political Evolution). There is still today a strong residue of belief that dominating relationships among human beings are natural and right because people have always related to gods in relationships of domination/submission (this is noted in detail in the articles below). Consequently, domination and control continue everywhere in families, schools, the workplace, and all social institutions.

Sociology and anthropology have long argued that much ancient religious mythology is still reflected in contemporary thinking and practice because people have always tried to replicate (mimic) in their societies and relationships what they believe to be the divine will or order of things. Tragically, far too often it has been the most brutal features of gods that people have replicated in their social orders or relationships. God is the supreme reality who would inspire and encourage true humanity. However, throughout human history the most highly respected reality and idea in human history- God- has instead been used to support the worst inhumanity toward others. All sorts of nasty features have been projected onto God and thereby found validation under cover of God. That perverted use of God has resulted in the subversion of true freedom and equality for most people. It is time to end such inhumanity and uncover once again the radical humanity of God.

It has been wisely said that you will never have truly human social orders until you have truly human views of God. Fortunately for us all, God has always been human. True humanity (love, forgiveness, free unconditional acceptance of others, giving, serving) has always originated with the human God.

For the above reasons, we are offering the argument that humanity needs completely new versions of God to support the ongoing emergence of freedom and truly human societies. There is no more powerful reality or idea in life than God. It is time to bring our mainstream views of God up to date with what we now know about human reality. Only a truly human view of God can produce more human social relationships. In saying this we realize that all true humanity originates in the first place with God. God has always been human.

It is now widely recognized that old religious views of God contain too many elements that are destructive to freedom and human relating. Many of these elements originate from past animal existence and embody base animal-like features. Some of these animal-like features of religious gods are as follows:

Ø      God as superior or above, a ruling patriarch.

Ø      Vertical relating to God similar to the domination/submission relationships of animal hierarchies.

Ø      Domination and control as the central function of God, embodied in notions of the will of God or God predetermining all.

Ø      Anger, rejection, and punishment from God in reaction to human imperfection.

Ø      The anger of God toward people evident in disease, natural disaster and conflict, and threats of hell.

Ø      Male gender in God validating male dominance in our social orders.

These elements have their origin in past animal existence and pagan mythology and they have unfortunately been carried over into contemporary human ideologies and existence. But they are clearly features of animal and not human reality or existence.

The continued acceptance of such animal-like features in God has resulted in brutal domination of others in human societies. Dominating gods have long provided validation for dominating social orders.

Shaping New Views Of God

All of humanity needs to contribute to the great venture of shaping new and truly human views of God to support the ongoing emergence of humanity and human forms of relating. God ideas must no longer be the exclusive domain of religious experts. In fact, religion should never have become the mediator of God or God truth. Creating new views of a non-dominating God is all about control and power coming from the bottom and people relating as true equals with no special privileges or opportunities for the elite few.

For those who find the thought of creating a more human God offensive, let me clarify that we are simply trying to clean up ideas of God cluttered by millennia of rubbish. Ideas of God have become so clouded by animal-like features and religious/institutional distortion that the only way to really understand God as he exists, is to start all over again with a fresh non-institutional or nonreligious version. As Steve Allen once said, to really know God you often have to leave the church. The approach of a new millennium provides a great historical turning point for rethinking and recreating views of God.

And may we state very clearly that we are not actually creating a new God. We are, like many others simply dissatisfied with the direction that ideas of God have taken over time, especially within the major religions, and we recognize that views of God quite simply reflect human influence and are human creations. People project their own ideas onto God and too often they project the worst features of animal reality onto God. We, like many others, simply want to take part in shaping radically new ideas of God better suited to the reality of emerging humanity and to our contemporary situation. We recognize that no idea of God will ever properly describe the indescribable reality that is God. But we must continually seek to update our views of God as new information comes to light.

We also recognize, as we noted above, the powerful role that ideas of God play in shaping broad social attitudes and practices. We are therefore challenging archaic ideas of God and spirituality and offering entirely new ideas and directions for God thought to move toward.

For instance, we will argue that God has never been vertically related to his creation or toward humanity. God has never been a dominating superior, controlling all below him. God has always been horizontally related to all as a free equal.

And we will argue that horizontalizing ideas of God does not degrade God in any way but actually elevates God, for it removes ideas of God from base animal reality with its vertical relationships of domination and places God in the more human realm of freely cooperating equals. That is where true freedom lies.

We would also add that a horizontal view of God more accurately represents Joshua Ben Adam's own views of God. It was Joshua (known more commonly as the historical Jesus), coming with an entirely new revelation of God, who said, "I have not come to be served, but to serve". He radically reversed the way humans should view God. God, he said, does not dominate or control. Joshua was put to death for such 'blasphemy', for bringing God down among us. Joshua was trying to radically change people's ideas about God and show them that God had never left us in anger to live as a distant Ruler, somewhere up and away. God has always been present to hold all things in existence and to inspire humanity and serve all life. Joshua was simply re-emphasizing these facts. But he has never been taken seriously by verticalized and dominating institutional religion.

Far too long the idea of God has been associated with hierarchy, superiority, authority, control by law, order and conformity, religion, institution, male domination, threat and punishment. It is time for radical change. We need to now associate God more with all true freedom, equality, forgiveness, life, diversity, tolerance and acceptance of all others, randomness, spontaneous creativity, laughter, and play. It is time to remove all that is animal from God and to associate God with all true humanity.

 From the series 'Taking The Vertical Out Of God'
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