Oh, please. Oprah.
Winfrey asked Nyad: “You told our producers you’re not a God person, but you’re deeply in awe?”
Nyad replied: “Yeah, I’m not a God person. I’m an atheist”, prompting Winfrey to question: “But you’re in awe?”
Nyad said: “I don’t understand why anyone would find a contradiction in that. I can stand at the beach’s edge with the most devout Christian, Jew, Buddhist and weep at the beauty of this universe, and be moved by all of humanity. So to me, my definition of God is humanity, and is the love of humanity.”
Winfrey, who has spoken about her Christian faith on television before, replied by telling Nyad that her beliefs did not fit with traditional atheism. “Well I don’t call you an atheist then. I think if you believe in the awe and the wonder, and the mystery, then that is what God is. That is what God is. It’s not the bearded guy in the sky,” she said.
No it is not. Being blown away by a sunset or a starry night or a sunset seen from the beach on a starry night is not what “God” is. Don’t bullshit us. Don’t move the goalposts. Don’t pretend the word “God” doesn’t mean what most people take it to mean but instead means a really good hazelnut gelato. Don’t conscript everyone into God’s army by pretending everything is god. Just don’t.