What the word 'God' means to me varies a great deal depending on the context, the speaker, and what I think I know about the speaker's beliefs. I like the Gandhi quote. I am a Baptist heretic, convinced that what Gandhi was talking about is what Jesus was talking about, that God underlies all of us and all of it, but my personal experience of God has been personal (i.e. I have perceived what I think of as God in ways that imply to my mind personality, which is what one would expect in a Baptist). I think it is critically important that we discuss things like this, and that believers and unbelievers, theists and atheist, learn not merely to tolerate but to respect and appreciate each other; likewise that Christians appreciate Sikhs and Jews appreciate Santería, and Wiccans appreciate Islam, and so on.

At the moment I'm reading Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion (in English — I haven't been able to locate a copy in Latin, alas) and I must agree with Jon Freeman that there's nothing in there to support the comfort theories. But there is in my personal experience of God, indeed, I intuit from my experience that (ultimately) all's right with the world, i.e. All's Well That Ends Well, as the canon has it. My "My Burning Bush" sermon is, I think, my most cogent attempt to explain what God means to me, if anyone's interested. It's not replicable; I don't offer it in an effort to proselytize or convert anyone to anything, just to (hopefully) let people get to know me a bit better, and possibly understand. Those who have had similar experiences may find a resonance. I am interested, too, in hearing from people (email me!) who have had what they believe to have been equivalent experiences and who are convinced that "God" was not involved.

Liland