Did God Die on the Way to Houston? A Queer Tale: A Work of Theological Fiction

James Friedman a retired philosophy professor living in Houston receives an invitation from a woman identifying herself only as Shekhinah who claims she was once God. She wants to talk to him about her decision to abandon heaven for earth. Accepting the invitation Friedman encounters a tall ebony-skinned twenty-three-year-old same-gender-loving woman who is wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt. She tells Friedman a creation story about a loving God who at the moment of creation fourteen billion years ago gave up power over the world out of respect for human freedom. This view of God is similar to one Friedman has expounded. According to Shekhinah to Gods horror and surprise countless human beings have misused their freedom to cause massive injustice--bigotry genocide cruelty etc.--and to put the earth itself in peril. Powerless as God Shekhinah asserts that the Creator could make a difference in the world only by becoming a human being--which meant the death of God. God she claims entered the world as a Black Same-Gender-Loving Woman to divinely affirm three often disrespected identities. For reasons she reveals Shekhinah now a socially engaged secular Buddhist chose Houston as the place to partner with others and begin her project of saving a damaged planet and achieving justice for all human beings.