Is God Really an Old Man in the Sky?

Or is there a God for grownups?

Not long ago, I was having lunch with an old friend. There are two things they say you’re never supposed to discuss with others, even friends: religion and politics. Nevertheless, we discussed both that day. For the most part, we agreed on politics. Religion on the other hand? My friend was certain that God does not exist.

I was in a different camp. “How can you be so sure?” I asked him.

“Payne,” he answered, rolling his eyes, “an old man with a beard sitting on a throne up in the sky judging us? Really?”

And there it was.

Whenever I hear an atheist provide their reasons for their unbelief, it is always that conception of God that they point to. Always. Old, beard, throne, robe and sandals, taking on the role of some celestial Santa Claus, making lists of who’s been good and who’s been bad.

The Childhood God

The thing is, I don’t believe in that concept either. Unfortunately, that’s the God most of us are presented with, starting from childhood. And introducing that concept to a kid makes a certain amount of sense. How do you explain the creator of the universe to a child? Everything is anthropomorphized for children. Their books and cartoons are filled with walking, talking animals and inanimate objects come to life. Why shouldn’t God also be animated as human-like? But as a really powerful human. Like a king. Only in the sky. (Watching you, so you’d better be good!)

Of course, the problem is that for most of us, as we get older, we realize that this concept doesn’t make a lot of sense. But without a viable alternative, where do we go for a decent worldview? If you’re like my friend, you tend toward atheism, or at least agnosticism. Or, like a lot of people, you barely give the matter any thought at all. The big questions of the universe — and the nature of God is surely one of those — become unanswerable riddles. You put your head down and go to work each day and try not to think too much about the riddles. (Some of us go to church to try to hedge our bets. You know, just in case.)

It’s a shame. As it happens, there are philosophical theories about God that do make sense. Theories for adults. Theories for thinking people.

All In God

One of them is panentheism, a personal favorite of mine. This is the belief that the universe is an extension of God, an extension that we experience as spacetime. The word, coined in the early nineteenth century, means “all in God.” The universe is within the mind of God, in other words, and therefore God is also within us. When you stop and think about this, it’s mind blowing. We’re talking about a universe pervaded by God — an intelligent universe. A universe that’s alive and conscious. In fact, the universe might not be anything but consciousness.

Noted philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead expounded on this theory of God in his 1929 seminal work Process and Reality, in which he described a sort of dipolar God — a fixed, eternal, transcendent God in one aspect and an immanent, right-here, right-now God in the other. A God with eternal attributes, and a God that we experience in every moment, a God that is anything but apart from us.

This is not your grandfather’s god. (Well, unless your grandfather is Alfred North Whitehead, or some similar panentheist.)

Now, here’s the really amazing thing about panentheism: it’s no new development. Sure, the word was coined in the 1800s, and the idea was further developed philosophically in the 1900s, but panentheism as a worldview has been around as far back as recorded time. In fact, it’s practiced by at least some branch or other of every major religion on the planet. Kabbalah Judaism, Sufi Islam, Christian mysticism, pretty much all the Eastern religions — they all recognize the nature of the universe as being alive and a part of God (or other terms besides “God” that they might use to describe the ultimate foundation of the universe to which all things point).

Who’s the Old Man Really Working For?

So, why do we only hear about the old man in the sky? Well, besides the idea of dumbing things down for children, it’s also a useful concept for fundamentalists. You know, those people — Christians, Muslims, Jews, what-have-you (exclusionism happens in all religions) — who want you to believe that their way is the only way. A god of which we are all a part is a universally accessible god. But a judgmental god sitting on a throne separate and apart from everyone can be used much more effectively to put forth a specific point of view. God’s been hijacked, in other words, by the fundamentalists. The old man on the throne works exclusively for them.

Of course, the fundamentalists will point to their holy scriptures, which often describe a human-like God, ignoring the obvious allegorical manner in which these texts were written, complete with their beautiful use of metaphor and symbolism. Fundamentalism means literalism.

Sadly, the fundamentalists make the most noise, which is why we mostly hear about their concept of God. The fundamentalists are the ones telling us that we’re going to hell. Panentheistic thinkers tend to be more contemplative. They’re not that interested in trying to convert others, whether by gentle persuasion or by threats of eternal damnation. They’re more interested in the spiritual aspects of life. You know, the stuff about God. The real God.

So, anyway, I explained all this to my friend at lunch that day, suggesting politely that maybe he could use a little more imagination when contemplating the supreme being. That maybe there are other alternatives. He promised he’d think about it.

Then he picked up the check.

I haven’t had the chance to chat with my friend since, but I like to think that maybe he’s taken the time to Google terms like “panentheism” and “mysticism” and “a conscious universe” to try to expand his understanding of God. Even if he has looked into it, I know it’ll be an uphill climb for him. Changing one’s worldview is hard.

Still, I’m heartened by my suspicion that something I said just might have gotten through to him. Why do I think this? Because my friend never — and I mean never — picks up the check.

That’s got to mean something, right?

I’m a writer, researcher, eternally curious ruminator, and author of the recently released So Who is God, Anyway?: An Unorthodox Theory for Doubters, Skeptics, and Recovering Fundamentalists (Five Boroughs, May, 2024). More than anything, I’m just glad to be here.