It was a triumph of imagination when the third century BCE philosopher Archimedes said he could move the world if he had a place to stand. He calculated how large items could be moved with little effort if he placed a fulcrum in just the right spot along a lever. He did the math and it worked. But his imagination went wild as he considered stepping off the planet itself in order to lift it. Can openers, fingernail trimmers, teeter totters, catapults, crow bars, tire jacks, and light switches all resulted from his insight, but Archimedes never could find a way steady place off the planet in order to move it. That place does not exist, but in many ways we are still looking for it. And theology and religious folk lead the charge.

Through the years and as recently as last Sunday and this morning, God has been treated like Archimedes’ fulcrum, a fixed point that can be depended upon to steady ourselves and to move, if not the world, at least our corner of it. God is where the buck stops. From this point systems have been built, arguments launched, wars waged, and hope rooted. Even for Descartes who built a way of thinking on methodical doubt, God was foundational, like the function of zero for mathematicians—a base to keep the bottom from falling out.