"It is impossible to imagine the universe run by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is quite easy to imagine it run by a board of gods"
About this Quote
Mencken’s jab lands because it treats theology like office politics: if the world looks chaotic, petty, and unevenly administered, maybe that’s not a bug in the evidence but a clue about the “management structure.” A single wise, just, omnipotent God creates an explanatory crisis: either God can’t stop suffering (not omnipotent), won’t stop it (not just), or doesn’t notice (not wise). Mencken doesn’t labor through that syllogism; he lets the reader feel its friction.
The “board of gods” is the wickedly efficient alternative. A committee explains contradictions the way any bureaucracy does: competing agendas, turf wars, bad compromises, and the occasional indifferent vote to “table” human misery. It’s polytheism reframed in modern corporate terms, and that modernity is part of the sting. By swapping sacred majesty for a boardroom, Mencken strips religion of its aura and exposes it as an institution that, like institutions, survives by rationalizing outcomes after the fact.
The subtext is less “there are many gods” than “your picture of providence is suspiciously unlike reality.” Mencken wrote in an America swollen with public piety and private certainty, yet freshly acquainted with industrial carnage, inequality, and the churn of modern life. His broader project was to puncture moral grandstanding and the self-flattering belief that the universe is an ethical machine built for human comfort.
It’s also a stylistic flex: the line is funny in the way cynicism becomes clarifying. Laughter here is an argument, a shorthand for skepticism when the official story can’t balance its own books.
The “board of gods” is the wickedly efficient alternative. A committee explains contradictions the way any bureaucracy does: competing agendas, turf wars, bad compromises, and the occasional indifferent vote to “table” human misery. It’s polytheism reframed in modern corporate terms, and that modernity is part of the sting. By swapping sacred majesty for a boardroom, Mencken strips religion of its aura and exposes it as an institution that, like institutions, survives by rationalizing outcomes after the fact.
The subtext is less “there are many gods” than “your picture of providence is suspiciously unlike reality.” Mencken wrote in an America swollen with public piety and private certainty, yet freshly acquainted with industrial carnage, inequality, and the churn of modern life. His broader project was to puncture moral grandstanding and the self-flattering belief that the universe is an ethical machine built for human comfort.
It’s also a stylistic flex: the line is funny in the way cynicism becomes clarifying. Laughter here is an argument, a shorthand for skepticism when the official story can’t balance its own books.
Quote Details
| Topic | God |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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