If you were God, what kind of God would you be?

When I was seven my faith in the absence of fairies grew and grew. By the time I was ten I had an unshakeable faith in the non existence of Santa but I still had not developed a faith in the nonbeing of ghosts - looking back on my life it would seem I was always been a fundamentalist non believer in Zeus, with a faith unrivalled...I guess that's just childhood indoctrination for you.Now I hold strong faith that Sagan's Garage Dragon is a myth, and even if Sagan posthumously introduced me to said dragon I'd simply deny it - so strong is my faith I'm sure. Equally strong is my faith in the lack of

Arianrod                      Nuada Argetlam
Morrigu                       Tagd
Govannon                      Goibniu
Gunfled                       Odin
Dagda                         Ogma
Ogryvan                       Marzin
Dea Dia                       Mara
Iuno Lucina                   Diana of  Ephesus
Saturn                        Robigus
Furrina                       Pluto
Cronos                        Vesta
Engurra                       Zer-panitu
Belus                         Merodach
Ubilulu                       Elum
U-dimmer-an-kia               Marduk
U-sab-sib                     Nin
U-Mersi                       Persephone
Tammuz                        Istar
Venus                         Lagas
Beltis                        Nirig
Nusku                         En-Mersi
Aa                            Assur
Sin                           Beltu
Apsu                          Kuski-banda
Elali                         Nin-azu
Mami                          Qarradu
Zaraqu                        Ueras
Zagaga

And don't get me started on my powerful faith in the non-entitiness of* Bao A Qu (Malay) - Entity that lives in the Tower of Victory in Chitor
* Aatxe (Basque) - Spirit that takes the form of a bull
* Abassy (Yakuts) - Demons that have teeth of iron
* Abada (African) - Small type of unicorn reported to live in the lands of the African Congo
* bd (Tatar) - Forest spirit
* Abaia (Melanesian) - Huge magical eel
* Abarimon (Medieval Bestiaries) - Savage humanoid with backward feet
* Abath (Malay) - One-horned animal
* Abatwa (Zulu) - Little people that ride ants
* Abura-bō (Japanese) - Spectral fire from Shiga Prefecture, in which the shape of a monk can often be seen
* Abura-sumashi (Japanese) - creature from a mountain pass in Kumamoto Prefecture
* Acephali (Greek) - Headless humanoids
* Acheri (Indian) - Disease-bringing ghost
* Achiyalabopa (Puebloan) - Rainbow-feathered birds
* Achlis (Roman) - Curious elk
* Adar Llwch Gwin (Welsh) - Giant birds that understand human languages
* Adaro (Solomon Islands) - Malevolent merfolk
* Adhene (Manx) - Nature spirit
* Adlet (Inuit) - Vampiric dog-human hybrid
* Adroanzi (Lugbara) - Nature spirit
* Adze (Ewe people) - African vampiric forest being
* Aerico (Macedonian) - Disease demon
* Afanc (Welsh) - Lake monster (exact lake varies by story)
* Agathodaemon (Greek) - Spirit of vinefields and grainfields
* Agloolik (Inuit) - Ice spirit that aids hunters and fishermen
* Agogwe (East Africa) - Small, ape-like humanoid
* Ahkiyyini (Inuit) - Animated skeleton that causes shipwrecks
* Ahuizotl (Aztec) - Anthropophagous dog-monkey hybrid
* Aigamuxa (Khoikhoi) - Anthropophagous humanoid with eyes in its instep
* Aigikampoi (Etruscan) - Fish-tailed goat
* Aigamuxa (Khoikhoi) - Man-eating Ogres
* Aitu (Polynesian) - Malevolent spirits or demons
* Aitvaras (Lithuanian) - Household spirit
* Ajatar (Finnish) - Dragon
* Akabeko (Japanese) - Red cow involved in the construction of Enzō-ji in Yanaizu, Fukushima
* Akamataa (Japanese) - Snake spirit from Okinawa
* Akateko (Japanese) - Tree-dwelling monster
* Akhlut (Inuit) - Orca-wolf shapeshifter
* Akka (Finnish) - Female spirits or minor goddesses
* Akki (Japanese) - Large, grotesque humanoid
* Akkorokamui (Ainu) - Sea monster
* Akuma (Japanese) - Evil spirit
* Akupara (Hindu) - Giant turtle that supports the world
* Akurojin-no-hi (Japanese) - Ghostly flame which causes disease
* Al (Armenian and Persian) - Spirit that steals unborn babies and livers from pregnant women
* Ala (Slavic) - Bad weather demon
* Alal (Chaldean) - Demon
* Alan (Philippine) - Winged humanoid that steals reproductive waste to make children
* Al Basti (Turkish) - Female night-demon
* Alce (Heraldic) - Wingless griffin
* Alicanto (Chilean) - Bird that eats gold and silver
* Alicorn - Technically a unicorn's horn. In modern times is commonly misapplied to winged unicorns
* Alkonost (Slavic) - Angelic bird with human head and breasts
* Allocamelus (Heraldic) - Ass-camel hybrid
* Allu (Akkadian and Sumerian) - Faceless demon
* Almas (Mongolian) - Savage humanoid
* Al-mi'raj (Islamic) - One-horned rabbit
* Aloja (Catalan) - Female water spirit
* Alom-bag-winno-sis (Abenaki) - Little people and tricksters
* Alp (German) - Male night-demon
* Alphyn (Heraldic) - Lion-like creature, sometimes with dragon or goat forelegs
* Alp-luachra (Irish) - Parasitic fairy
* Al Rakim (Islamic) - Guard dog of the Seven Sleepers
* Alseid (Greek) - Grove nymph
* Al (Assyrian) - Leprous demon
* Alux (Mayan) - Little people
* Amaburakosagi (Japanese) - Ritual disciplinary demon from Shikoku
* Amala (Tsimshian) - Giant who holds up the world
* Amamehagi (Japanese) - Ritual disciplinary demon from Hokuriku
* Amanojaku (Japanese) - Small demon
* Amarok (Inuit) - Giant wolf
* Amarum (Quechua) - Water boa spirit
* Amazake-babaa (Japanese) - Disease-causing hag
* Amemasu (Ainu) - Lake monster
* Amorōnagu (Japanese) - Tennyo from the island of Amami Ōshima
* Amphiptere (Heraldic) - Winged serpent
* Amphisbaena (Greek) - Serpent with a head at each end
* Anakim (Jewish) - Giant
* Androsphinx (Ancient Egyptian) - Human-headed sphinx
* Angel (Christian, Islamic, Jewish, and Zoroastrian) - Heavenly being, usually depicted as a winged humanoid.
* Angha (Persian) - Dog-lion-peacock hybrid
* Ani Hyuntikwalaski (Cherokee) - Lightning spirit
* Ankou (French) - Skeletal grave watcher with a lantern and a scythe.
* Anmo (Japanese) - Ritual disciplinary demon from Iwate Prefecture
* Antaeus (Greek) - A giant who was extremely strong as long as he remained in contact with the ground
* Antero Vipunen (Finnish) - Subterranean giant
* Ao Ao (Guaran) - Anthropophagous peccary or sheep
* Aobōzu (Japanese) - Blue monk who kidnaps children
* Apkallu (Sumerian) - Fish-human hybrid that attends the god Enki
* Apsaras (Buddhist and Hindu) - Female cloud spirit
* Aqrabuamelu (Akkadian) - Human-scorpion hybrid
* Ardat-Lili (Akkadian) - Disease demon
* Argus Panoptes (Greek) - Hundred-eyed giant
* Arikura-no-baba (Japanese) - Old woman with magical powers
* Arimaspi (Greek) - One-eyed humanoid
* Arion (Greek) - Extremely swift horse with a green mane and the power of speech
* Arkan Sonney (Manx) - Fairy hedgehog
* Asag (Sumerian) - Hideous rock demon
* Asakku (Sumerian) - Demon
* Asanbosam (West Africa) - Iron-toothed vampire
* Asena (Turkic) - Blue-maned wolf
* A-senee-ki-wakw (Abenaki) - Stone-giant
* Ashi-magari (Japanese) - Invisible tendril that impedes movement
* Asiman (Dahomey) - Vampiric possession spirit
* Askefrue (Germanic) - Female tree spirit
* Ask-wee-da-eed (Abenaki) - Fire elemental and spectral fire
* Asobibi (Japanese) - Spectral fire from Kōchi Prefecture
* Aspidochelone (Medieval Bestiaries) - Island-sized whale or sea turtle
* Asrai (English) - Water spirit
* Astomi (Hindu) - Humanoid sustained by pleasant smells instead of food
* Aswang (Philippine) - Carrion-eating humanoid
* Atomy (English) - Surprisingly small creature
* Ato-oi-kozō (Japanese) - Invisible spirit that follows people
* Atshen (Inuit) - Anthropophagous spirit
* Auloniad (Greek) - Pasture nymph
* Avalerion (Medieval Bestiary) - King of the birds
* Awa-hon-do (Abenaki) - Insect spirit
* Axex (Ancient Egyptian) - Falcon-lion hybrid
* Ayakashi (Japanese) - Sea-serpent that travels over boats in an arc while dripping oil
* Ayakashi-no-ayashibi (Japanese) - Spectral fire from Ishikawa Prefecture
* Aziza (Dahomey) - Little people that help hunters
* Azukiarai (Japanese) - Spirit that washes azuki beans along riversides
* Azukibabaa (Japanese) - Bean-grinding hag who devours people
* Azukitogi (Japanese) - Spirit that washes azuki beans along riversides(and that's just the A's. Take a look at this long list of things I have come to have a strong faith in the lack of.And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Boy am I a faithful person! Any god that doesn't interfere with reality in any way detectable to humans.If I were a god then the kind of god I would be would depend on my powers and the 'psychology of a deity'. I really have no comprehension of these things.If I was a god with the same kind of personality and motivation as I have now - I'd probably cock everything up and make everyone miserable...so while things might be different there probably wouldn't be that much difference. I'd certainly not leave my existence a mystery though. I'd use my increased intellect to deduce the system of morality that is of most benefit to all, and enforce it openly and accept criticism and explain the reasons why I have decided upon it to everyone who wanted to ask. I'd avoid spiritual ambiguities, not leave any doubt in anybody's mind about where they stand and I would allow anybody who so chooses to take part in an "opt out" scheme where they can live in a realm I created that is absent of my interference and they can govern themselves. Of course, this is assuming I make sentient creatures that think like we do. I might not do that - I might make better ones.Just a few ideas. In the end though, becoming god entails such a huge amount of responsibility and an infinite array of possibilities it is impossible to succinctly describe what I would do.

(I was stargazing last week, and cracked a Russell related joke to myself when I saw it - couldn't resist bringing it up here, sorry).

And blind faith starts in the head - when people think they know what God wants or is.You equate 'god' with 'God of the Bible'. I don't do that. If the question had been "What would you do if you were the God of the Bible", the answer is "What the God of the Bible did.", instead the question is what would you do (ie., not the God of the Bible) so the answer is obviously going to be "Not what the God of the Bible did." unless we happen to think similarly to the God of the Bible. You might think you do, but I don't.abe: Incidentally - a lot of people said they would make their existence known. The God of the Bible did this - with spectacular miracles and curses and punishments and he would make it clear that he was the cause of the diseases, the natural disasters, the bolt of energy that killed transgessors, setting fire to meat covered in water etc etc. No god that exists is doing anything of that ilk now - and people are just saying they would not let generations go by guessing as to their existence. It isn't just the God of the Bible they are not acting like - it is every god that could exist and be consistent with our collective experiences.You think that is the start of idolatry? If a messiah and a prophet can commit murder, adultery and engage in violence then I don't see how less blessed people, however much they try to go it with God have any hope of constructing a better system.Edited by Modulous, : No reason given.

You really shouldn't rape Suzy. It would be a morally wrong. Have you tried asking her for a drink - it's a slower process but it is not immoral.

I seem to be getting the impression that people are geniunely defending YHWH's act of collective punishment (including delayed collective punishment) is moral.So if the Pope does something illegal or immoral, it might be moral to kill a 9 year old Catholic.If a Jehovah's Witness elder commits adultery, it could be an imperative to dash a JW's child's brains out against a rock.Even if the moral crime occurred generations ago.YHWH would punish all members of tribes, nations and other groups for the crimes of small subsets of those tribes committed some moral crime against him.Do those who defend this type of justice believe our society should reflect it? A murderer's family should go to prison? A thief's neighbourhood should be stoned?