I have been thinking about God a lot lately. Not in the way that I usually do, where I think about the God I have been taught about in school, or in mosque, or in any of the other places I have been fortunate enough to learn about Him. I have been thinking about God in America, and more specifically, about the American conception of God.
I have been thinking about it because I have been reading about it, and I have been reading about it because I have been seeing it. I have been seeing it in the faces of the people who go to church on Sundays, and in the faces of the people who pray before meals, and in the faces of the people who wear crosses around their necks. I have been seeing it in the faces of the people who believe in God, and in the faces of the people who don't believe in God, and in the faces of the people who aren't sure what they believe.
The question of God's existence is not one that I find particularly interesting. I find it much more interesting to think about what God means to people, and how that meaning shapes their lives. I find it much more interesting to think about how people's conception of God shapes their understanding of morality, and how that understanding shapes their behavior.
I find it much more interesting to think about how people's conception of God shapes their understanding of themselves, and how that understanding shapes their relationships with others. I find it much more interesting to think about how people's conception of God shapes their understanding of the world, and how that understanding shapes their place in it.
I find it much more interesting to think about how people's conception of God shapes their understanding of time, and how that understanding shapes their relationship with the past and the future. I find it much more interesting to think about how people's conception of God shapes their understanding of death, and how that understanding shapes their relationship with life.
I find it much more interesting to think about how people's conception of God shapes their understanding of love, and how that understanding shapes their capacity for forgiveness. I find it much more interesting to think about how people's conception of God shapes their understanding of justice, and how that understanding shapes their capacity for mercy.
I find it much more interesting to think about how people's conception of God shapes their understanding of truth, and how that understanding shapes their capacity for doubt. I find it much more interesting to think about how people's conception of God shapes their understanding of faith, and how that understanding shapes their capacity for hope.