Saturday, March 17, 2012

Is God Dead?


Recently"God is Dead" theologian William Hamilton died of heart failure at the age of 87. The radical theologian was a leading figure in the controversial Death of God movement during the 1960s, which was brought to national fame in 1966 when Time magazine published the infamous cover story "Is God Dead?" Hamilton and other theologians gained notoriety by exploring the notion that a personal god simply did not exist, and the implication was that this was the evolution of religion. Needless to say, the Time article and what proved to be a short-lived movement were controversial.
Some might imagine that the New Atheist movement of recent years which includes Hitchens, Dawkins, and Harris as "point men" came out of that controversial public foray. Apparently Hamilton wasn't a fan of these guys and their rather belligerent and strident oppostion to religion in any form: “There is a self-righteousness, a glibness in their writing. They are too sure of themselves. They’ve backed themselves into a fundamentalist mode.”
I would have to agree. For his part, Hamilton saw himself as a Christian who no longer went to church.
I am tempted to break into a chorus of "don't tell me my friend that God is dead, he woke me up this mornin'" but I will refrain.
God seems to be hanging in there, but what do you think? Dead, sleeping, or flourishing?

1 comment:

Laurie said...

I think I would have to agree with Hamilton with his notion " that a personal god simply did not exist, and the implication was that this was the evolution of religion" Religions come and go. It is an evolution of thoughts and ideas. I don't agree that people like Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris have backed themselves into a fundamentalist mode. I view them as Humanists.