Carl Sagan Responds To Christian Grad Student Question About God

[Thomas]

I do think they veered off course and Sagan didn't really stick to the question.
The student didn't either. He changed it to a question about purpose.

I allow the student more leeway, but yes, he should have stuck to the point and try and nail Sagan down.

Sagan diverted the student away from the point.

Why do some people conflate the idea of G-d with the idea of purpose? So much that they don't see a distinction?

It's a good question.

I would say that God does not act without 'reason' – not that God needs an objective, but God is not irrational.

(To argue that God might be irrational is fruitless. Suppose He is – then all science, all human endeavour, is fundamentally pointless, as the rules might change tomorrow ... )

So if God 'starts' something, we can assume He has an 'end' in mind.

Where purpose gets silly is where people predicate necessity of God – that somehow God 'learns' by our experience, or that God needs the Cosmos to 'grow', that sort of thing.

So much so that devout believers appear to assume that anyone not as devout as themselves is lacking in purpose and meaning?

Yes, that's a flaw in the religious character. A life aimed at making even just one person's existence incrementally better than it was is a good life, in my book. It gives that life purpose, meaning and value.

What are the thoughts and assumptions that lead to that kind of thinking?

LOL, that God'a a lot like us?