In Chapter 3 of his work, “Why Won’t God Heal Amputees,” Marshal Brain, a noted atheist and purveyor of HowStuffWorks.com, constructs a Standard Model of God.

"1. People believe that God is the almighty ruler of the universe. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal, timeless, omnipresent and perfect.

2. People believe that God is the creator of everything. He created the universe and the earth.

3. People believe that God is the creator of life and human beings. Many people believe that God created the first man (Adam) and woman (Eve) in his own image, and we are all Adam and Eve's descendents. Others are not that literal, and believe that God played a central role in the creation of the human species and our consciousness

4. People believe that God instills in each of us a unique and everlasting soul.

5. People believe that we have eternal life after death. When we die, people believe that our souls return to God in Heaven for eternity if we have accepted Jesus as our savior.

6. People believe that God wrote or inspired the Bible. The Bible is God's word. There is a sentence that summarizes the Bible for many people: The Bible is infallible, inspired and inerrant. Others are not that literal, but do believe that God played a central role in the Bible's creation.

7. People believe that God sent Jesus to earth as God incarnate. Jesus performed many miracles while he was alive, and after his death Jesus was resurrected, appeared to hundreds of people, and then ascended into heaven, proving that he is God.

8. People believe that God is a benevolent and loving ruler. God is good and God is love.

9. People believe that God is a living being who knows and loves each one of us. Each of us can speak to God and have a personal relationship with him. The way that we speak to God is through prayer.

10. People believe that God has a plan for each of us. We each have a distinct and unique purpose in God's universe."

- Marshal Brain, “Why Won’t God Heal Amputees?” Chap. 3


Richard Dawkins, in his book The God Delusion, also provides a model of God (albeit inadvertent) in the following excerpt.

“The Nobel Prize winning physicist (and atheist) Steven Weinberg made the point as well as anybody, in Dreams of a Final Theory:

Some people have views of God that are so broad and flexible that it is inevitable that they will find God wherever they look for him. One hears it said that ‘God is the Ultimate’ or ‘God is our better nature’ or ‘God is the universe.’ Of course, like any other word, the word ‘God’ can be given any meaning we like. If you want to say that ‘God is Energy,’ then you can find God in a lump of coal.

Weinberg is surely right that, if the word God is not to become completely useless, it should be used in the way people have generally understood it: to denote a supernatural creator that is ‘appropriate for us to worship’.” – Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion, Chap. 1


Marshal Brain’s model of God is quite long, and Richard Dawkins’ is very succinct.

These are models of God prepared by two very accomplished and intelligent men, but I see a very distinct pattern and I want to know if holds true for all atheists.

If I am not violating any protocol of this RfM forum, I would like to ask those of you who consider yourselves to be hard-line atheists if you would provide me with your own working definition of God. I’m not asking you to tell me who other people think He is, I already know that, I’m asking you to provide me with a definition of who YOU think He should be; I want YOUR OPINION.

If God existed, what should YOU see? Or, what would it be like?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

P.S. Please do not respond if you’re a Theist – this is for Atheists to express themselves freely.

Atheists don't believe because there is no evidence to support any of the god concepts presented to date.

Atheists aren't making claims about god(s). However your question is asking an atheist to make a claim about god(s).

They described the Standard Model. Are you asking whether there are atheists who have a different standard model that they don't believe in?

Or are you asking if there are atheists who think that theists have the wrong model of God, and if theists would adopt their New and Improved god myth, then things would be better? There is a name for atheists who feel that way - "theist".


There are no unicorns. debating the proper color is irellevant.

The standard model of God is not determined by atheists. It is determined by theists. Good grief, IT IS what other people (namely theists) think. Dawkins and Brain are describing what they see as theist beliefs. I think the description is accurate in a bell-curve sort of way: most believers accept most of those tenets most of the time, though individuals vary in varying ways.


And what is with the earnest demanding that only certain people respond to a certain thread? I'm perfectly capable of expressing my opinion even if theists pipe up, say, about errors they see in your standard model.

a·the·ism/ˈāTHēˌizəm/
Noun:
The theory or belief that God does not exist.

agnosticism:
A religious orientation of doubt; a denial of ultimate knowledge of the existence of God.

Maybe you are directing your question to agnostics, who do not claim to know, but may speculate upon, the existence of God(s).

As I understand atheists take an active belief that there is no God, and thus if an atheist is asked "If God existed, question question question?" the universe would implode upon their head.

God is a robust meme, or cultural fairy tale, created by man's need to feel part of something more.

Read "Why We Believe in god(s)" by J. Anderson Thomson, Jr, to learn the biochemistry and neuroscience of why we created religion far in our evolutionary past.