Most Americans say they believe in G-d. Around the world, religious Jews, Christians and Muslims say they believe in G-d, as do many people who do not identify with any formal religion.
But this statement is actually meaningless.
To cite one example, the G-d in whose name some Muslim extremists cut innocent peoples’ throats and violate women cannot be the same G-d as the G-d of those who believe G-d condemns such actions.
Who then argues that all those who say they believe in G-d believe in the same G-d?
Two groups make this argument. The first consists of people who have an anti-religious agenda: They say that all religious people believe in the same G-d in order to discredit G-d and religion. The second consists of people who have an inclusion agenda and wish to depict Muslims as believing in the same G-d as Jews and Christians (as indeed, some do; see below).
So, how are we to know whether any two people who say they believe in G-d in fact do?
I will answer as a believing Jew: How do I know if another person believes in the same G-d that I do? I ask the following three questions:
1. Do you believe in the G-d of Israel?
Those who cannot answer this question in the affirmative do not believe in the same G-d that believing Jews and the majority of believing Christians do. As for Muslims, they should have no problem answering in the affirmative, but in our time many wouldn’t.
The G-d of Israel is, among other things, the G-d introduced to the world by the Jews and their Bible: the G-d who created the world, revealed Himself to the Jews, and made his moral will known through the Ten Commandments and the Hebrew prophets.
2. Does the G-d you believe in judge the moral behavior of every human being?
There are many people today who say that they believe in a G-d who does not judge people’s actions. As such, they do not believe in the same G-d as traditional Jews and Christians.
In fact, a G-d that is indifferent to the moral behavior of human beings is so different from the G-d introduced by the Jews that these believers might as well use a word other than “G-d.”
This does not mean that such people cannot be fine, upstanding individuals (just as not everyone who believes in a morally judging G-d is a fine, upstanding person). But in general, these people are less likely to be moral for the obvious reason that most human beings act better when they believe their actions will be judged either by G-d or man.
At the same time, one need not be a Jew, Christian or Muslim in order to believe in a G-d who judges morality. Benjamin Franklin was one such individual: He did not affirm the Christian creed that Jesus was G-d, but he did believe in the moral teachings and judgments of G-d introduced by the Bible.
One might argue that violent Muslims believe in a judging G-d, and that Tomas de Torquemada, the infamous head of the Spanish Inquisition, did, too. But this argument is not valid, for it seems that violent Muslims believe G-d will judge them by their faith and pursuit of justice — not their moral conduct. They act according to what they themselves believe G-d approves of.
For the record, Jews never believed — and the Jewish Bible never suggested — that one must believe in Judaism or be Jewish in order to be favorably judged by G-d.
3. Do you believe in the G-d who gave the Ten Commandments?
This question needs to be asked. After all, if G-d never revealed his moral will, how would we know what behaviors he demands from us and what he judges?
What about people who say “yes” to these questions but have additional theological beliefs? Do they believe in the same G-d as those who also answer “yes” but have no additional beliefs?
For example, what about Christians who believe in the G-d of Israel but also believe, by definition, in the Christian Trinity? Do they believe in the same G-d as Jews and other non-Christians who solely believe in these three criteria? I think they do.
The same would hold true for a Muslim who believes in these three notions but also believes that the Quran is the only fully valid revelation.
Whether or not one uses these three criteria, we should all at least acknowledge that saying one believes in G-d tells us nothing about the G-d one believes in.
Regarding faith, that is what matters.