i think most people missunderstand the concept of god. and personally i don't see how you can separate the two, or rather once you separate human from god, all you get is confusion.

such as the statement that mankind is greater than god. which i think is confused. but for the sake of discussion it does make sense to take a stance... and make a subjective statement.

what i am saying is that you have to define what god is. to me (subjective) god is the most high. so how could anyone be better than the most high? but within that, god is everything.

if you get into the etymology of the word god, then it's easy to see how one could make that statement. where does the word god come from? what concept is connected to it?

for instance, the denigration of another culture's 'god' easilly hinges around a lack of understanding of that persons culture and thus their point of view. the concept is lost in the translation and then you make a qualitative and subjective comment like 'my god is better than yours.' or 'my understanding of god is greater than yours' both are inherently incorrect as god is something very personal and can only be experienced for a person by that person.

anyways, suzuki said it well when he said 'how can you talk about ? when you speak you only talk about the dark or the light. the positive or the negative. and thus only confuse the listener because you are only giving them half of the story (paraphrased)'

i think western religions dogmatic approach to god makes a 'god' that is not greater than man. industrial religion. but even that statement falls within the jurasdiction of the statement above....

ok?