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When two people, one Christian and one non-Christian, reference God are they referring to the same God? If a Muslim says "Allah be praised" and a Christian says, "praise God!" are they referring to the same God? If one thinks it is the same God, it appears that one would have to lower the differentiation between the two religions. If one says that the references are completely separate, then is it at all possible for an unbeliever to refer to the Christian's God at all? In his speech to the Athenians, Paul refers to the Athenian temple to an unknown god. And what the Athenians deem to be unknown, Paul proposes to declare (or make known) to them. In this case many have argued that Paul indeed thinks that the unbelieving Athenian god is referring somehow to Paul's God. However, Paul continues by presenting a stark contrast of properties possessed by the god of the Athenians and his own God. In his concise su...

In his short story, “Bulletproof,” T.C Boyle illustrates the impasse between those who see things as the creation and those who see the same things as a result of chance and matter. The point of the story is that two different people might see exactly the same thing, but interpret it in very different ways. The culmination of the story is the meeting of the two main characters—one atheist, one Christian—on a trail in the woods. They watch a group of snakes and comment on what they see. Both see the same thing, but interpret it in wildly different ways. To the Christian, the snakes tell her something about God; she calls them “the ribbons of God” The atheist sees no such thing – they are just snakes. The point of the story is that there is no way to cross the divide, to bridge the gap, to make any difference to the world of the other person. The way each of them sees the world is impenetrable to the other person. They have bulletproof worldviews.