With all the misunderstandings, confusion and violence engendered in the word “God” the word itself is problematic. This word has baggage. It is easy to misuse and assume that everyone knows what we’re talking about when we use it, but we don’t. And we suffer from this.

With just one additional letter, the word God becomes Good. This makes it much clearer. We are talking about the Universal Substance, Presence, Principle, or Force underlying life – and the word “Good” makes it very clear.

Instead of imaging God as the all powerful arbitrator who decides who suffers and who prospers, the “Good” would be understood as the dynamic principle of all life. Who could misunderstand that? Would we kill in the name of Good? There might be disagreements about personal good versus collective good but we won’t kill each other over it. Good can be defined so that there is no mistake.

Rather than worshipping “God’ praying that God might hear our prayers, we could seek to express Good – to be Good, see Good and live in a way that allowed Good to unfold.

Let’s correct the typo in a few places to see the difference: “And God Said, let there be light.” This would now read: “And Good expressed itself as light.” That makes sense. Light is an analogy for understanding and to understand something is good, who could argue with that?  Instead of: “I believe in God. . . “ “I believe in Good.” Good is something we don’t have to merely “believe” in, it can be understood as everything seen and experienced in life as either an expression of good, a symbol of good or an absence of good.

Even atheists can appreciate the value of what’s good. There is nothing to believe in, hope for or strive after, as Good is already possible. We don’t need to wait for a super-person to get it and bring it to us, as it is already available. Everyone can understand what’s good and what isn’t.

What is Good? Good is self-evident. Good is the context in which life flourishes. Good is intelligent, loving, uplifting, transparent, non-conditional, and benevolent. If something is truly good, it is good for all, otherwise it is not really good.  There can be reverence for Good when we see it working in our lives.  

So with one Universal Spell Check program – “God” will become “Good.” The universal tension between conflicting beliefs about God disappears.  We can know that life is good and that a “good life,” is guided by values that constitute the context of good: harmony, intelligence, benevolence, beauty, compassion, enthusiasm, joy, wisdom, etc. Collectively we can find solutions to problems that are good.