Don't Need to Believe in God to be a Vicar in Denmark?
A Danish priest who made a public statement to the effect that he didn't believe in God, the resurrection or eternal life is still in the pulpit after his bishop annulled his suspension. This seems odd at first blush, but more thought leads me to realize that the more we write any religious tradition off as a series of symbols of metaphors designed to act a certain way on the brain, as opposed to a set of real moments in the history of the interaction between God and man, the final result is a place where it all becomes symbolic language; abstract concepts used for utilitarian purposes. For some contemporary theologians, it does not need to be true, only useful ... like the in the math problem given by the agnostic protagonist of a recent best-selling novel as a tepid and condescending justification for religion, x = y + 3 in which x and y are not "real" in the sense that we need to believe in them, but that they serve a utilitarian purpose in the equation. The problem with looking at religion like this is that God becomes a psychological placeholder. I think if you've gotten to the point where that's all you think He is, it's more intellectually honest to simply say He isn't.