“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him (or her) live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.” -CARL SAGAN
I do not agree with those who say that one needs to believe in God in order to be ethical. History is too filled with kindly atheists and cruel theists to find that tenet credible. Still, I do believe that, to be fully human, one needs that reverence to which the symbol “God” should refer, a wonderment, an awe before the universe. It is that wonder at existence itself that gives us a sense that each of us is somehow of infinite worth. For mystics, the symbol God is a multiplier. It takes the small love we understand and makes that love applicable to every human, every animal and every plant. It is quite clear from the quote above that Carl Sagan, while a devout atheist, had the essence of everything a mystic would mean by the symbol, “God.”
If “God” is a symbol of our reverence before mystery then it is surely beyond the definitions of theism or atheism.