h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Don't you think God was so clever to come up with a name just one letter away from Good?
For this I worship him.

God didnt come up with the name god, we did. Although, this is true of so many things...

I agree. If 'God' is so 'Good', why oh why did he miss a letter out of his name? Surely Good is a better name than God...

Oops. I just thought of something
If God was called Good, then instead of saying 'Good God!', you'd have to say 'Good Good!'.

And that would sound stupid.

Perhaps you care to know, that I happen to live in a small town called God. I honestly
do! To tell the whole truth, that name is not English but Hungarian, and it doesn't mean
anything at all, it's just a name, and it's pronounced somewhat differently. But that
doesn't change the fact, does it?

Furthermore, God isnt really God's name is it? Or, rather, it is one name among many. YWHW; Yawheh; Jahova; I Am and so on. And of course the more recent additions of Christ into the god concept have increased the name count.
I find it a little unfortunate, to be honest, that the name we apply to what we consider the most important being in existence is ugly. I donty think 'god' as a word has any aesthetic appeal at all.

I agree, 'God' as a word isn't that great because it's just a backwards 'Dog' and who wants to look at the other end of a dog?

And then there was the one about the agnostic dyslexic insomniac who stayed up all night wondering if there really was a Dog.

But... ahem... anyway, it's always seemed to me that the name God for our god (using the term 'our' loosely, as I am an atheist)
is about as generic as the name Moon for the Earth's moon. All the OTHER planets have moons with cool names, we just get
a bland description for it. At least our star isn't called the Star.

I agree. Our moon should have a sensible name, like Harold.

Good Dog, you're an athist? Aren't they all extinct?

It's true, believe it or not. Though here in the Bible Belt it's nothing you shout out about if you're
planning on having a nice relaxed day. Might be interested in what DNA has to say on the matter:
http://www.americanatheist.org/win98-99/T2/silverman.html

Did you know that the Russian for God is Bog Hmmm.......

Yes, but Alloah is certainly not better than Allah (unless you have a nice house with a garden there).

atheist are not extinct, infact we
are still welcoming new members
and the influx seems to be growing
as the millenium closes in on us.
i my self am a member of the israeli
branch of the atheist persuasion
(israel is even a less accomodating
place for the avarage atheist than the
bible belt).
by the way i find that it is very wise
of you all to concentrae on the semantic
aspects of god instead of dwelling on essence.
that can only lead to mayhem and a dull
and staborn pain in the back of the head.
(sometimes in the temples).

"Bog Hmmm"? That's a funny name, isn't it? It's worse than God and Good and Dog put together. Not that I'm against Russians, or anything.

(or God...)

And the dyslexic devil worshipper who sold his soul to Santa.

Our Church,The Evangelic Atheists, admits all comers whatever type of God, Dog etc they believe in. All they ask is that you refuse a seat in heaven, later on when it's offered.

Not to be antagonistic or anything... *G*

Bishop to Pope. "I have good news and bad news."
Pope: "What's the good news?"
Bishop: "God is Alive."
Pope: "That's *very* good news -- what's the bad news?"
Bishop: "She's dancing with the Witches at Fort Hood."

One of tyhe planets was going to be called William, and another (or maybe the same one) was going to be called Albert!

In order to have designed the universe, God must be a remarkable and well organised entity. There is a fundamental flaw in this sort of argument Put bluntly, who or what designed God ? So good could not have been chance ! This argument is clearly one which is regressive - one can continue to ask who designed the designer ad infinitum. The way to break the regress is to say that something is capable of designing (or organising) itself, that is it has no need of a designer. Problem: there is no need of God. A principle of parsimony here. If things can organise themselves, why can't the universe be one of those things ? There may be problems with seeing how it does that, but there will be equal or greater problems in seeing how God is organised. There is also a sufficient reason argument-why should we postulate a God and then stop with that God-why not super Gods, etc. ?