Historically, the word "God" has meant many different things to many different cultures,

The word itself is derived from the Gothic root gheu; and the Sanskrit hub or emu, meaning "to invoke or to sacrifice to." In other words at a root level, the word "God" means either "the one invoked" or "the one sacrificed to."

There are other words that are often associated with "God." Divine comes from the Indo-Germanic root "div" which means "to shine" or "give light." The word "thes" as in theism, a-theistic, comes from thessasthai or "to implore." The Indo-Iranian word for deity is deva, the Sanskrit is dyaus (gen. divas), the Latin is deus, the Greek is theos, as well as the Irish and Gaelic which is dia. The common name most widely used in Semitic occurs as 'el in Hebrew, 'ilu in Babylonian, 'ilah in Arabic, etc.; and though scholars are not agreed on this, the root-meaning most probably is "the strong or mighty one." Then there is the whole Greek pantheon and other pagan deities like the Greek Zeus, the Roman Jupiter (jovpater) Janus, and Diana, the Old Teutonic Tiu or Tiw (surviving in Tuesday), and many other forms of pagan deities who are anthropomorphic in nature and like people, have proper names.

As a modern English word, "God" also means many things to many people. If the degree to which an idea is in harmony with Reality can be measured by how it works for everyone involved, then some of these notions are clearly more Real than others. Unfortunately, it is also true that mistaken beliefs about God have more power to create pain for humanity than any other preventable problem we face.

Each of us has a choice about how much pain we want to be responsible for bringing into this world. The life-taking choice is to defend unconscious and proprietary notions of God. These have the power to cause the collapse of civilization as we know it - perhaps even humanity's extinction.

The life-giving choice is to honestly examine our beliefs, no matter how sacred they may be to us, to see if they can pass muster in the Light of Truth. In this Light we can recognize that God embraces all people through all time - no matter what they might believe about God. If we can't see that, we must be willing to move deeper into the Light.

There is an ultimate Reality out of which our Universe takes shape. To see more deeply into it, all that is necessary is an open mind and the ability to be truly honest with ourselves - no matter what others may think, say or program us to believe.

No doubt for most people this is a tall order but it is not impossible. As people become more educated, irrational religious beliefs fall by the wayside. Today few people in America would still try to use Scripture to justify the physical abuse of a disobedient wife or moral abominations like slavery. Yet, there remain places in the world where this behavior is still commonplace and considered the hallmark of Â"the faithful."

No matter how fervently people believe in such outmoded ideas, belief can't make them Real. Education has the power to overcome belief.

Learning what is Real works because Reality is a reflection of God. That is why the only thing any of us have to lose by stepping ever deeper into Reality is pain. What we can also know for sure is that Reality is imbued with its own credential. Like the Principles enumerated in the opening paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence, its Truth is self-evident. In its Light belief is irrelevant.

As more of us choose to hold such Light, the brighter our future becomes.