Cox Concedes God May Be Dead Now

"God may be dead for us, but he doesn't have to be for our children," Harvey G. Cox, associate professor of Church and Society, told a packed audience at the Ford Hall Forum last night. "We must realize that new seers are yet to come, just as new visions have yet to be seen," he said.

Cox defined belief in God as belief in the possible and the unachieved. "Man used to be a dreamer but never had the technology to carry out his dreams," Cox explained. Now he has the technology but has lost his dreams.

"It would be arrogant, however," Cox said, "for us to presume that our children will not be capable of vision."

Modern churches and synagogues are largely to blame for this "eclipse of God," Cox continued. "They have become acolytes of the status quo, and failed to provide the painful tension between the 'not yet' and the world around them." Cox said it is this tension which is the source of religious vision. When the tension fades, God dies.

Cox contended that the current concern over the question "Is God Dead?" is the result of conflict among clergymen as to the role of religion in modern life.

One group of theologians, whom he called the "mossbacks," is concerned with the "sacreligization of the past." The other, with which he himself is affiliated, sees the church as a community of men trying to bring the kingdom of God to the earth.

Cox cited two areas in which clergymen have refused to take straightforward stands: civil rights and the crisis in Southeast Asia. Both areas could provide the clergy with the opportunity to demonstrate vision and wisdom.