On Metatheism And The Metatheist
My score on the philosophy test two posts back includes a “0%” for belief in “divine command.” You might conclude that means I’m an atheist, but I’m not. I’ve been a theist, an atheist, and an agnostic. As an agnostic, I struggled for a better term, because I was more comfortable with the language of religion than many agnostics. I understood what people meant when they said, “I’m spiritual, not religious.” But was I a pantheist? A panentheist? A metaphorist? I’m a metatheist. Literally, metatheism is “beyond theism.” It’s beyond atheism and agnosticism, too, not in a superior sense, but in the sense that the metatheist is spiritually utilitarian: what matters is what your belief inspires you to do. Call the desire for goodness and justice “God” or “morality” or “something ultimately unknowable” if you wish. To the metatheist, all of those positions are fine. We’ll talk about goodness in your terms—that’s just being polite. What helps you do good is good to us. We’ll only object if par