The Very Idea of a Punitive God Is an Affront to Godhood

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 16 September 2024 "I'm able to love my god because he gives me freedom to deny him." Whenever I read this exalted thought of Rabindranath Tagore, I'm filled with a sense of ineffable bliss. God, if at all it does exist, is unlike despotic rulers who punish their subjects for disobeying and defying them. The very thought of a punitive god is repugnant. Albert Einstein, though not an outright atheist, he was agnostic, always doubted the concept of a personal god who would punish humans for their sins and transgressions. The concept of a punishing god is only in the Semitic faiths, viz, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. That's why, English and quite a few western languages have an unpleasant word like 'god-fearing'. Isn't it an oxymoron? When you say god is all love, then how can love and fear co-exist? Why don't people say, god-loving? In the eastern spiritual traditions and metaphysics, god is the transcendental consciousness that manifests itself as The Universal Love. In the East, the Supreme Being is an all-pervasive spirit whereas in the Semitic consciousness, god is an anthropomorphic being. Muslims (particularly Muslims), Christians and Jews subconsciously anthropomorphise their god and endow it with all (undesirable) human attributes like anger, jealousy, revenge, among others. It's the jealous and revengeful god of the Old Testament that still frightens and obfuscates the religious thinking of the followers of these three faiths. When lofty humans like Gandhi, Mandela, Buddha, Mahavira and Confucius could forgive people without a skerrick of rancour, can't your Rabb ul-Aalameen (god of the universe) forgive humans? It means, he's even worse than the humans! It's an affront to your god. Why do humans relegate their god to a quotidian level of a strict and sadistic taskmaster? Why do they make him so draconian? Your god is not a martinet like an autocrat or an erstwhile slave-master. A qualified and genuine psychiatrist like Mr Ghulam Mohiyuddin will agree with me that the deep-rooted collective masochism of humans and their propensity to act as gluttons for punishment make them see their god as a perennially angry concoction that perversely enjoys spanking its helpless subjects. I shall be thankful to Mr Mohiyuddin if he can throw some light on this masochistic behaviour of humans in religious context. ------ A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/idea-punitive-god-affront-godhood/d/133207 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism