Wednesday, November 16, 2016

The Great God Debate

Yesterday afternoon at WRT, a group of 5th-7th grade students met to participate in "The Great God Debate."

We know that a person doesn't have to believe in God in order to be Jewish: Judaism has always been more interested in asking good questions than in providing definite answers. And so, we added our voices to the long-standing Jewish tradition of asking big questions about God.

While the nuances of each student's beliefs were left on the floor of the debate stage, we were able to capture some data on what our students believe. Below are some of the results:

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The Problem of Suffering
Philosophers argue that if God is as we expect, then God should be all-good, all-powerful, and all-knowing. However, since we see that there is suffering in the world, we realize that God can't be all three of these things at once. Otherwise, the all-knowing part of God would know that people suffer; the all-good part of God want to remove that suffering; and the all-powerful part of God would take initiative to alleviate that suffering. And yet, suffering people still suffer.

In response to this problem, philosophers argue that at any one moment, God can, at maximum, only be two of these three qualities. After a rich debate, our students voted to tell us which of these three attributes they think is least likely to be true about God. Results are below:





Jewish Theology
Jewish religious thinkers make three main assertions about God, often referred to as: Creation, Revelation, and Redemption. "Creation" refers to the Jewish belief that God created the world. "Revelation" refers to the Jewish belief that God gives us specific instructions for how to act in the world, which Jews call "commandments." "Redemption" refers to the Jewish belief that God has the power to change the world and our lives. These three beliefs are enshrined in the three blessings that surround the Shema prayer.

Below, our students ranked these Jewish theological claims, in order from most believable to least believable.





The Chosen People?
Jewish thinkers have long disagreed on what it means to be "the chosen people." Does this mean that God cares more about the Jews? Does it mean that God expects more responsibility from the Jews? Or does it mean that each people and religion has its own special relationship with God -- each people "chosen" for its own unique qualities and destiny?

Below our students respond to whether God has a special relationship with the Jewish people.





Belief in God
Based on our earlier discussions, our students weighed in on the broadest question of them all: "Do I believe in God?"

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