Is this how you imagine God?
ASKED to describe the face of God, many of us would depict him as a wise old man with a long, white beard.
But scientists in America have come up with an alternative look – after creating a composite image from the descriptions of hundreds of Christians.
And surprisingly, they reckon he has a youthful male face with feminine features.
Psychologists at the University of North Carolina drew their conclusions after asking a sample of 511 men and women.
The participants saw hundreds of faces and chose which ones appeared more like how they imagined God to appear. By combining all the selected faces, researchers built up an e-fit ‘face of God’.
Interestingly, men and women of all races saw God as more likely to be male and white. But those with more liberal views tended to see God as more feminine and younger.
Conservative Americans tended to see God as being ‘more Caucasian’ in appearance. The study’s author said: ‘These biases might have stemmed from the type of societies that liberals and conservatives want.
‘Past research shows that conservatives are more motivated than liberals to live in a wellordered society, one that would be best regulated by a powerful God.
‘On the other hand, liberals are more motivated to live in a tolerant society, which would be better regulated by a loving God.’
Perceptions also related to demographic characteristics, and younger people believed in a fresher-faced God.
While those who saw themselves as being more physically attractive also believed in a better-looking God.
Professor Kurt Gray, the study’s senior author, added: ‘People’s tendency to believe in a God that looks like them is consistent with an egocentric bias,
‘People often project their beliefs and traits onto others, and our study shows that God’s appearance is no different – people believe in a God who not only thinks like them, but also looks like them.’
Critics of the study pointed out that even if participants wanted to make the face of God look more like the one depicted in the Sistine Chapel, it would have been difficult as ‘no facial hair of any kind’ was included in the material shown to the sample.
However, the study’s author points out that God ‘could definitely have been old’ from the images shown to the participants.
The Bible gives few clues as to what the Christian God looks like.
In fact Exodus 33:20 explicitly states that looking at God’s face will lead to instant death: ‘You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.’