Voices
PAUL BRANDEIS
RAUSHENBUSH
HUFFINGTON
11.10.13
TAYLOR HILL/GETTY IMAGES
before us, who have loved and
hurt and suffered. So to me, my
definition of God is humanity
and is the love of humanity.
“Well, I don’t call you an atheist
then,” Winfrey said. “I think if you
believe in the awe and the wonder
and the mystery, then that is what
God is. That is what God is. It’s
not a bearded guy in the sky.”
Oprah came under a heated attack by atheists who thought they
deserved an apology for her lack
of understanding.
In a similar exchange, Richard
Dawkins and Bill Maher made
their own assessment of the beliefs of others in a conversation
on Bill Maher’s show Real Time.
First, Bill Maher professed his
belief that Pope Francis is “secretly an atheist,” then Dawkins
responded by saying: “Like many
people, I’m sure that [President
Barack] Obama is an atheist.”
While not shouting it from the
mountain tops, Obama has consistently professed his Christian
faith, goes to church, and even
welcomed daily scripture reflections sent to him via email by
Joshua Dubois who has recently
published a collection of those in
a book entitled The President’s
We all have the right
to decide how to identify
ourselves in terms of religion
or lack thereof. It is not for
others to affix their identity
upon us, or strip ours from us.”
Devotional. And Pope Francis.
What is similar about these
cases is that both Oprah and Maher/Dawkins are confronted with
people whose values, intelligence,
and world view they respect.
Oprah heard Nyad talk about
the wonder she felt at the universe and her definition of ‘God
as humanity’ and thought ‘oh, I
resonate with that... you are actually a theist.’ Bill Maher/Richard
Evolutionary
biologist
Richard
Dawkins
proclaimed
that professed
Christian
Barack Obama
is actually
an atheist.