Index > What is God? > The second day

Propositional statements about God are all tangled up with values statements.

For example: To ask whether there is one God or many is partly a descriptive question, but also partly an exhortatory or moral or decision question. To believe "there are many Gods" might naturally imply "I will not incline towards theogenic intercourse with the neighboring tribe". That's a decision, so values bear on it. We are created in motion, with {values, stances, actions, plans, beliefs, propositions} never yet having been separated out from each other. When we say "there are many Gods", by default this is a proposition, a stance-taking, a decision-making, a values-affirmation, and a goal-adoption, all in one. It may be a correct (or self-fulfilling) proposition, but an incorrect goal-adoption, or vice versa, etc.

So when we're asking whether to believe in God or not, or what are the attributes of the God we're supposed to believe in, often we're sort of asking "What should we do?". (Or, "What collectivity should we be, together?", or "How should we think well together?".)