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What is a god?

Apparently the dictionary definition of a Supreme Being is insufficient for some folks. That the definition can be tested against millions of theists is still not enough.

No, these folks want to argue that a god could be all sorts of different things, and therefor claim that any argument against gods is doomed for just that reason.

Strangely enough, this argument is actually used in defense of those who have totally indefensible beliefs! In other words, the great majority of people believing in gods fall into the Christian/Jewish/Moslem class. Those gods are certainly impossible, and only idiots argue against that. Yet somehow, those beliefs, these utterly indefensible and impossible confusions, are given credibility because *some* definition of a god might not be so ridiculous?

Oh, well. That's life, strange as it is. But let's return to the god issue itself.

As has been said, you can define Pumpkin Pie as god, but that doesn't make it so. God is not Pumpkin Pie, not merely some alien creature with incredibly advanced powers, and not some physicist from another universe clowning around. These things are not gods.

I think there are two, or possibly three, essential elements for god-hood. The first is self-creation. A god cannot have been created by something else; in and of itself it must be the Supreme Power.

The second element is consciousness. The god is not just the sum of the energy in our universe. It is intelligent, active, alive.

The third element is an interest or involvement with mankind. The Deist god seems, at first glance, not to fit this definition, but from what I recall of actual Deist writing, there always seemed to be a flavor that god intended man to exist; that although His attitude was strictly hands off, mankind's existence was part and parcel of the creation.

I concede that it is possible that some Deists may not hold this position, so their "god" may only answer the first two requirements.

Nothing less is a god. Advanced aliens are not gods. The "base stuff" of the Universe is not god. Pumpkin Pies are not gods.

Pumpkin Pies and Advanced Aliens can exist. Physicists in another universe might exist.

Gods cannot exist. A conscious, intelligent being is complex. It must be constructed from simpler parts, just as we are. It cannot, of course, create those parts before it itself exists.

Morever, we cannot say that the god evolves from a simple base. Evolution requires reproduction and competition. A god with siblings and ancestors (all presumably killed off) is not a Supreme Being: it's merely the last surviving example of an extremely murderous race!

These are the logical impossibilities that theism begins with. This base impossibility is then laden with other burdens because of the necessity of explaining the quite observable suffering of humans, the lack of communication with the god, etc.

It is amusing to kick out the weaker props of theism; Omniscience, Omnibenevolence: how easily they fall. But we need also to recognize that the core itself is rotten. Gods cannot exist.