For Americans, This Is the 'Face of God'

Ryan Gosling, is that you?
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 12, 2018 10:15 AM CDT
For Americans, This Is the 'Face of God'
The "face of God," based on a survey of 511 US Christians.   (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

You can now say you've stared into the face of God, or at least a face Americans believe resembles it. Surprisingly, there's no beard in sight. Instead, faces selected from pairs of photos by more than 500 US Christians tasked with choosing their vision of God combine to show a clean-cut, young Caucasian man with a slight resemblance to Ryan Gosling. Still, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say most believers imagine a God "who is suited to meet their needs and who looks like them," according to an egocentric bias, per the Daily Express. For example, liberals imagine a younger, more feminine, and less Caucasian God than conservatives, who chose more powerful and more Caucasian faces, researchers write in Plos One. (More God stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X