A Picture of God?

Have you ever wondered why people connect with the divine in so many different ways? Some people find it helpful to have a statue, a painting, or a symbol to focus on. They feel it’s like having a photograph of a loved one—it’s not the person, but it helps you feel connected and reminds you of them. This is one heartfelt approach to faith.

Others believe that God is so vast and beyond our world that any picture or statue would be too small and misleading. They feel the best way to connect is directly, through thought, prayer, and feeling—with nothing in between. This is another powerful approach.

To explore these two powerful ideas, we turned to two of the world's great faith traditions that embody them most clearly. For the side of symbolism, we look to Hinduism, one of the oldest surviving religions on Earth. For countless followers, sacred images and statues are a central part of a rich and vibrant spiritual life, a way to make the divine feel present and personal. For the side of pure monotheism, we turn to Islam, a tradition that preserves the uncompromising purity of the Oneness of God. At its very core is the idea that the Creator is unique and without any partner or image, a truth to be reached directly through prayer and revelation.

This isn't just a simple disagreement; it's one of the oldest and most profound questions in human history.

In the dialogue that follows, you'll witness a deep and respectful conversation between an assembly of brilliant minds. Representing the Hindu tradition are the great Advaita Vedanta philosopher Shankara, the modern spiritual reformer Swami Vivekananda, and the devotional mystic Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Arguing for pure monotheism from the Islamic tradition are the metaphysician Ibn Sina (Avicenna), the theologian al-Ghazālī, the logician Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, the rationalist Ibn Rushd (Averroes), and the staunch defender of Tawḥīd, Ibn Taymiyyah. Together, they explore this very question from all angles:

• Is a sacred statue a helpful tool or a harmful distraction?
• Should faith be based on what feels right in the heart or what makes sense to the mind?
• Does history show us a clear answer?

You don’t need to be a philosopher to follow along. Just bring your curiosity and an open mind. Let’s explore the arguments together.