"Great Architect of the Universe"
That prhase was actually first coined by John Calvin, who can hardly be called anti-Christian.
Lots of state consitutions refer to God as "the Great Legislature of the Universe."
Such "other names" for the God of Abraham are quite common in the Bible and in Jewish custom and tend to related to what is being accomplished at the time --- for example, on the mezuzah placed on my door is the first letter of one of God's names "Shaddai" --- short for Shomer Daltot Yisrael (literally "Guardian of the Doorways of Israel").
Even in the Shema (the scroll inside the mezuzah -- Deteronmy portion "Love the Lord thy God with all they heart -- you presumably know the rest), the Hebrew name for God used was "King of the Universe."
So, long and short, is a reference to the one and only God, same one that made a promise to Abraham.
In English (and Latin), all these various Hebrew names for God tended to become just "God" (or Jehovah), which is the source of the claim that there is something amiss here.
Dear MeanWestTexan,
"'Great Architect of the Universe'"
"That prhase was actually first coined by John Calvin, who can hardly be called anti-Christian."
Citing Calvin to a Catholic isn't exactly the most effective means of arguing one's position. ;-)
That aside, I don't think that anyone's doubting that a Christian can perceive God as the universe's architect. That misses my point entirely.
I spoke approvingly of demonstrating who God is from natural revelation. We Catholics do this all the time. In fact, the Church has dogmatically stated that one can definitively know of the existence of God through the use of natural reason apprehending natural revelation. More to the point, we have been criticized by some Protestants for delving so deeply into "human philosophy."
The problem is that one doesn't need to be a Christian to accept natural revelation, or that God is the universe's architect. And the Catholic concern is that the exclusive emphasis on natural revelation gives short shrift to Divine revelation.
sitetest