In Huxley's Brave New World, Savage is contending with Mustapha Mond, the world controller. Savage's sensibility has been shaped by the Bible and Shakespeare, readings no longer allowed to be read. He complains to Mond about the antiseptic quality of life in the new society. The controller says to him: "We prefer to do things comfortably." Savage rejoins: "But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin."

Many people think of God as a kind of cosmic Mustapha Mond or world controller. They have in mind a certain picture of God. It is one which most of us share in some measure, and one…