On Truth, On God, and On Faith (religious (obviously)) (Atheist material for believers instead of other atheists/ attempted use of a spoonful of sugar) — LessWrong
Many of the "details" of God's character - his status as creator of the universe, his moral perfection (subsuming his honesty) and all that would essentially make a conception of God one that's worth adulating, is bound up in Anselm's definition of God: "that than which nothing greater can be conceived". (edit for clarity: from this definition follow the attributes ascribed to God that are commonly treated as essential)
Thoughtful people would recognize a difference between ascribing to God inessential properties, such as gender, and essential properties, such as infinite love. A failure to notice which properties can be doubted without changing the subject would extend uncertainty about whether or not God possesses some inessential property into uncertainty about his core properties. Was that where you were going?
I think the same rule applies to essential as well as inessential properties.
You should believe them in proportion to the evidence you have for them. Belief that there exists an all-powerful being is justified insofar as there is evidence for it, and believing that that being is male is justified insofar as there is evidence for that.
You should drop every part of the belief, essential or inessential, for which you do not have sufficient evidence.
As for "summing up" all the essential things in a "maximally great being," to conclude that ... (read more)