First, let’s suppose that Jehovah God is real. Good News for the religious, right? Then, let’s twist it a bit and see what happens should Jehovah die. This would cause a major problem for at least the Abrahamic religions. After all, how could we hope for eternal life if the Provider Himself is subject to mortality? The guarantee of eternal life in His Presence would at that time become null and void. Steps must be taken and a coverup must be carried out. Hiding bodies is difficult enough, but when the body of Jehovah falls from Heaven and turns out to be two miles long, complications multiply. The beauty of novels is that they allow absurdities to shed light on reality, and James Morrow uses the device of the dead god to illuminate our notions on religion and philosophy. Scott Lohman, President of the Humanists of Minnesota, will interview Morrow on our show.
“Atheists Talk” is produced by The Minnesota Atheists Mike Haubrich is the host and director for today’s show.
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A wonderful book! I just got my copy back from a long-term loan to a friend, and am planning to read it again soon–after Morrow’s “Only Begotten Daughter”.
I thought that both the religious individuals and the atheists in the book almost all came across as flat caricatures. I was especially annoyed by the atheists who wanted to cover the event up because they couldn’t even stand the idea that a God had existed. Similarly, the point in the book where morality breaks down among most of the people when they find out that the deity is dead seemed both extremely improbable as outlined and borderline offensive in what it implied about human behavior. It essentially amounted to the old “if there’s no threat of hellfire, why bother being good?” argument.
Overall, I found the book unimpressive.