Calling consciousness god is a cop out. It's NOT what people mean when they say "god." It may be your particular view and you are welcome to it but to say people who want to disprove the idea of a theistic or personal god are setting up straw men is invalid. The vast majority of people who believe in god believe in a personal, theistic type of deity and atheists have every right and indeed a duty to discredit this way of thinking.

If one believes that consciousness is god then one does not believe in a theistic, personal deity and by common sense should welcome and encourage atheists to destroy this view which serves only to hold humankind back. Yet Lox wants to play both ends against the middle. To him, consciousness is god and at the same time, atheists set up straw men by attacking belief in a theistic, personal god. This causes me to question what Lox puts forth as being a genuinely what he believes. He wants it both way and there is no reason why he should as it does not help him in the slightest. Quite the contrary.

As an atheist, I hold that the fundamental building block of the universe is consciousness not matter. Nor does science dispute this. If one thinks science does, one needs to bone up on Quantum Theory. As an atheist, I believe in reincarnation. If death extinguishes consciousness then you are not conscious right now and never were and never will be. Since you are, you will and must be for all eternity. And there's no getting off the merry-go-round--you have to keep coming back. Even if earth is destroyed, then consciousness will find somewhere else to be born. It has eternity to wait and so is in no hurry. It does not grow old, it does not change. It acts fundamentally upon matter but never is the reverse true. Consciousness is primal.

I could call it god but I find this to be as pointless as burning a Quran on September 11. It's the same as saying that I am god as are you. Well, that's a nice sentiment but it gets us exactly nowhere. Therefore, atheism performs a public service by demonstrating logically what god is not. As with Sherlock Holmes, once we eliminate everything that god is not, whatever is left must be god. It should not be a matter of belief because we all believe radically different things. We need facts to grasp and we need consensus. So if we cannot agree on what god is, let us agree on what god cannot be. Carry on, atheism.