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About this quote

What does it mean?
When scientists say there is no God, they mean the old human-like image of God no longer fits the vast facts of the universe.
In plain terms
Scientists reject God not because the universe is empty, but because the old human image of God is too small.
What can you take from it?
Denying God often means rejecting an outdated image, not necessarily a divine presence.

Where it applies

  • debates on atheism
  • theological updates
  • science communication

Putting it to work

  • clarifying scientific statements
  • exploring non-anthropomorphic faith
  • reading science texts

Questions to consider

  • Does saying there is no God mean no divine exists or just not a human one?
  • How do words like God change with science?

Another view

Critics may argue that denying the anthropomorphic God is effectively denying God entirely.

More from John Burroughs

  1. 'Under the old dispensation, before the advent of science, when this little world was all, and the sun, moon, and stars were merely fixtures overhead to give l…

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  2. 'The deeper our insight into the methods of nature . . . the more incredible the popular Christianity seems to us.'

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  3. 'But we must learn it sooner or later. There surely comes a time when the mind perceives that this world is the work of God also and not of devils, and that in…

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