There are no right or wrong answers to the following questions. They are simply designed to encourage you to reflect upon what is meant when someone expresses a belief for or against ‘God’. Please put a tick in the spaces provided for the answer that best fits your view.
1. Do you believe in God?
Yes _____
No _____
Not Sure _____
The question is not meaningful _____
2. Regardless of your answer to the previous question what do you think the word ‘God’ means? What features or characteristics does the word ‘God’ conjure in your mind? Please give a tick against each question. (You can agree with more than one)
Does it mean: Agree Neutral Disagree
a. A supreme being who exists in the universe? ____ ____ ____
b. A super Father Christmas? ____ ____ ____
c. Something within each of us (rather than external) ____ ____ ____
d. A superhuman man with a beard ____ ____ ____
e. A superhuman woman (without a beard!) ____ ____ ____
f. A label for a special human experience ____ ____ ____
g. A cosmic energy ____ ____ ____
h. A shorthand way of labelling all that is good in the world.____ ____ ____
i. Three aspects - the father, the son and the holy spirit ____ ____ ____
j. A single unknowable force ____ ____ ____
k. Some other meaning - please describe briefly below:
You may have found it difficult to decide on a clear definition of God, and your own choices are very likely to differ from those others have made. All of the descriptions given above have been and continue to be definitions of God used in different traditions or in popular culture at different times (apart perhaps from the Father Christmas definition).