5. If we could assume there is any truth in the Bible history of Jehovah, we should not wonder that the Jews preferred worshiping a golden calf to paying their devotions to such a God, and, on the other hand, it is not surprising that he should manifest his displeasure toward them, and frequently steal away from them, and often confess grief, vexation, and regret for having made choice of such an ignorant, rebellious set of rambling nomads, who subsisted by war and plunder.
6. Jehovah's jealousy of other Gods which he so frequently manifested and so often confessed, and which is one of the most objectionable traits of his character, must be attributed to his own moral defects; for he acted in such a manner as to cause his own people to prefer other Gods to him. He frequently scolded and punished them for worshiping other Gods,—a circumstance which furnishes evidence that other Gods were better, and therefore more worthy of being worshiped. What else could have caused them to prefer other other Gods. He should have acted in such a loving and fatherly manner that other Gods could not have been more venerated and sought after. Then he would not have been so often vexed, harassed, and perplexed at the idolatrous proclivities of his worshipers, and so often resorted to retaliation by forsaking them, selling them, enslaving them, or delivering them into the hands of the spoiler! In Judges ii. 14, it is declared, "The Lord delivered them into the hands of the spoiler;" and, in Judges vi. 1, we are told he delivered them into the hands of Midian for seven years. This looks like an attempt to spoil his own plans, and to falsify his own promises to be with them, and protect them at all times.
7. Much of Jehovah's dealings with his people seemed to be by way of experiment, as in the case of trying Abraham's faith by requiring him to offer up his son. What an idea for an allwise and omnipotent God, or whom it is said, "Known unto him are all his works"!
8. But many circumstances prove that Jehovah was not the God of the universe, but only a family or national God. 1. His acknowledgment of the existence of other Gods (Deut. vi. 14). 2. His jealousy of other Gods (Exod. xxxiv. 14). 3. His traveling on foot, lodging in tents, having his feet washed, eating veal and cakes (Gen. xviii.), &c., all tend to prove this.
4. And the fact that he could not know what was going on in other nations, and not even his own until he visited the spot in person (as in the case of the Tower of Babel), is proof he was not the God of the universe.
9. We can not concede that the "Creator of unnumbered worlds" is (like Jehovah) an angry, malevolent being, addicted to feelings of revenge and retaliation, which seemed to banish the feeling of love and goodness entirely from his mind, and who is represented as being frequently thwarted in his designs and purposes by the caprices of his weak and ignorant children, who, so far from answering his expectations of being the best, turned out to be the worst, of his human heritage. Such ideas would be derogatory to Deity.
And this is the God the "American Christian Alliance" are trying to obtain a recognition of in the Constitution of the United States. What a moral calamity such a step would be!