A Taste of Religious Naturalism
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- Created on Sunday, 10 July 2011 01:00
- Written by Donald Miller
I will begin with two words -- two very evocative words for some of us. Two words which are capable of transporting some of us to a whole different dimension of time and space -- and, yes, -- to joy. Those two words are Star Island. Located off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 12 miles out in the Atlantic, Star Island today it is a summer conference center for Unitarian Universalists and Congregationalists.
Star Island is a place of sea and sun and rocks, of sunrises and sunsets. And GULLS! -- soaring and showing off for the humans. There are classes, music, new friends, and fun. Early in the season it is, quite simply, summer camp for adults.
About 20 years ago, I attended a week-long conference on Star Island devoted to the intersection between science and religion. It was attended by scientists, theologians, and some just-plain-folks like me. One day I had lunch with an astrophysicist. In fact, he was the Chief Scientist of the Hubble Telescope project. How cool is that?! I remember vividly something he told me. He said, "I see no difference between the awe experienced by astrophysicists contemplating the universe and the awe experienced by theologians contemplating God." I remember thinking, "Maybe it doesn't matter which path you take, the important thing is to experience the awe."
This morning I will tell you about a school of religious thought which has great appeal to me. It is based firmly in science, but it is replete with awe, reverence, respect, and gratitude. It is called "Natural Religion", or, more commonly, "Religious Naturalism". Much of what I will say comes from two books on the subject. One is When God is Gone, Everything is Holy: the Making of a Religious Naturalist by physicist Chet Raymo. The other is Reason and Reverence: Religious Humanism for the 21st Century, by William R. Murry, a UU minister and former president of a theological school.
Today I suggest that many Unitarian Universalists are Religious Naturalists, they just don't know it yet. And I suggest that Religious Naturalism will appeal to millions of people both inside and outside religious communities. I don't entirely agree with those who say it is "the religion of the future", but I understand their enthusiasm.
Growing up, Chet Raymo loved his Roman Catholic faith and was deeply devoted to it. In the 1950s he went to Notre Dame, where he earned a PhD in physics and went on to a career in college teaching, much of it here in Massachusetts. While he no longer believes in the supernaturalism and some other aspects of the Church, he still loves the Catholic liturgy, music, and rituals. Raymo's world view is firmly based in science, but he also writes about ancient spiritual writings and poetic images. He says, "This is a book about living in the portal between knowledge and mystery, between the commonplace and the divine.
Also grounded in science, William Murry begins with Humanism. In fact, his phrase of preference is "Humanistic Religious Naturalism." His book urges that Religious Humanism take on major concepts of Religious Naturalism so it can be relevant to more people and not have so many people asking, "Where's the awe? Where's the poetry?"
This morning I will try to give you a taste of Religious Naturalism. Not a comprehensive review, but a subjective taste to whet your appetite, I hope. I will tell you briefly about five major tenets of Religious Naturalism as described in these two books.
1. There is no idea of a personal God.
A personal God is an all-knowing intelligence which has the attributes of a human person: Intension, motivation, justice, love, desire; perhaps anger, wrath, and vindictiveness. One can speak to a personal God and sometimes perceive, on some level, a response. This was the God in whom I believed from early childhood up through high school. Sometime after I entered college, my beliefs began to falter and never fully recovered. Some things just didn't add up.
Raymo writes that it is natural that people would use the model of a human person when envisioning the Judeo-Christian God, assigning human abilities and qualities to it. Human beings were what they knew. Talk about human, they even gave their God gender! Raymo writes, they did not "… see the image in a glass darkly, but in a mirror brightly." Murry agrees.
2. Based in science, there is nothing supernatural.
For Religious Naturalists, the universe operates by the laws of nature. There are no exceptions. They do not believe in a God who is able to overcome the laws of nature, whether to reward the righteous, smite the unrighteous, or for any other reason. Furthermore, there is only one realm, that of the natural world, the Cosmos.
In various parts of the world, primitive peoples -- and not-so-primitive peoples -- believe in animistic spirits or ghosts which inhabit the forests, the rocks, the trees, and so on. During my Peace Corps years in Thailand, I encountered such spirit beliefs frequently -- often mixed together with Buddhism in curious ways. Directly behind my little house was a spirit-house erected by my neighbor. It looked like a cross between a miniature Buddhist temple and a bird feeder on a pole, a frequent sight in Thailand. My neighbor would leave burning incense sticks and bits of food there for the spirits. The food offerings would disappear, thanks to his cat. Raymo writes, "For all its grandeur and refinement, the modern idea of a transcendent personal diety who acts willfully in the world is only the final manifestation of ancient animism." Ouch!
Raymo, however, isn't headed where you may think. He writes about two, vehemently anti-religion books which have received national attention: The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins, and The End of Faith, by Sam Harris. Raymo writes, "The authors go at religion like B-movie slashers armed with Ockham's Razor, and by the time they are finished, there is not much left but the gory shreds of miracles and superstitions." (Wow, the man has fun with words!) Surprisingly, though, he adds, "But I won't go where Dawkins and Harris would take me. Something is amiss with their slash-and-burn atheism." He concludes, essentially, that Dawkins and Harris have thrown the baby out with the bath water.
3. It has a Different Concept of God -- if you wish. Raymo writes about Mystery with a capital "M." He describes a long tradition of Catholic writers over many centuries speaking of God's immanence -- the idea that God is in every atom of the universe, not a transcendent being of a separate realm. One of his favorites is the thirteenth century Dominican Friar Meister Eckhart, some of whose ideas have been summarized as follows:
- Divinity is inseparable from nature.
- God is unknown and unknowable, a mystery sensed intuitively.
- We humans are not other-than-God. We are part of creation, part of the ineffable.
- To the extent that we participate in the divine, we are creators, of art, certainly, but also of justice and compassion.
- We are not hobbled in our search by Original Sin; on the contrary, we are enabled by the blessedness of the creation of which we are a part.
And here is where Gary Smith would add pointedly, "REMEMBER, PEOPLE, THIS IS POETRY!"
One of the readings earlier in the service was a poetic description of the God of mystery by Greek novelist Nikos Kazantzakis. Raymo has included it in at least two of his books. Here it is again. "We have seen the highest circle of spiraling powers. We have named this circle God. We might have given it any other name we wished: Abyss, Mystery, Absolute Darkness, Absolute Light, Matter, Spirit, Ultimate Hope, Ultimate Despair, Silence. But we have named it God, for only this name, for primordial reasons, can stir the heart profoundly. And this deeply felt emotion is indispensable if we are to touch, body to body, the dread essence beyond logic."
Writings such as this and many others have been a significant force in religious thought over the centuries, even though they were suppressed by the Catholic Church.
Murry, I should add, is not comfortable with any use of the word "God" in Religious Naturalism. He would refer you to "Theistic Naturalism,", though he admits that the there is only a thin line separating the two ideas.
4. It Encourages Awe and Reverence in Response to Nature.
William Murry writes, "For me, the unimaginable vastness of the universe and the incredible complexity of life evoke awe and reverence greater than anything I experienced as a theist." He cites some startling findings of science:
- There are some one hundred billion galaxies in the universe, each with about one hundred billion stars.
- There are some thirty million different species in the world.
- All life evolved over billions of years from one-celled organisms.
- A human body consists of ten trillion cells. Its brain contains about one hundred billion neurons.
These figures are hard for mere mortals to comprehend. However, there are ways in which you can increase your awareness of what is around you. For example, try this as a daily spiritual practice. Realize -- INTENSIVELY realize -- that the earth is rotating constantly. When you see the sun early in the day, then see it a little later that day, actively be aware that the earth has rotated, not that the sun has moved. Yes, we all know the earth rotates, but I am suggesting you remind yourself, every time you see the sun, that the changes are due to the earth's rotation.
Another spiritual practice is to realize how small the world is. Think about it: you could leave tomorrow morning and drive to Los Angeles in five days, with stops for food and sleep. That is only one-eighth of the distance around the world at the equator. That is entirely comprensible.
Another exercise, of course, is to go out in nature deliberately -- to devote your full attention to it. Look at the tiny structures in flowers -- do you know which are which? Look at the tiny hairs that are on many plants, often on the underside of the leaves, or on the stems. Look at insects. Watch a pitched battle between warring groups of ants, and write a description of it!
5. It seeks justice and compassion in society, and ecological stewardship of the natural world
A scientific understanding of the evolution life on the earth leads Religious Naturalists to a feeling of unity with all other human beings and with the world. For Religious Naturalists, this leads to values of justice and compassion for all peoples, everywhere. We do not assume that people who are suffering are being punished by a personal God, nor do we believe that they will be saved by miracles. We know that concerted efforts are needed by human beings, working together compassionately. Similarly, we know that the earth is our home and that ecological stewardship of the earth and its flora and fauna is a crucial responsibility.
So there you have it -- a quick taste of Religious Naturalism. Here is a quick review:
1. No personal God.
2. No supernaturalism.
3. A different idea of God -- if you wish.
4. Awe and reverence in response to nature.
5. Justice, compassion, and ecological stewardship of the natural world.
Are there scriptures to read? You bet. Read Walden. Read it again! Read anything else by its amazing author. Read E. O. Wilson. Read the sermon entitled "I Asked for Wonder" by the Reverend Jenny Rankin -- it is on the First Parish web site from about two years ago.
This has been a sermon about becoming fully human. Karen Armstrong, noted scholar of religions, has written, "In the course of my studies, I have discovered that the religious quest is not about discovering 'the truth' or 'the meaning of life', but about living as intensively as possible here and now. The idea is not to latch onto some superhuman personality or to 'get to heaven' but to discover how to be fully human."
I believe that Religious Naturalism offers one way toward that goal. Even better, to be a Religious Naturalist, you don't have to go somewhere else. You'll fit right in here at First Parish or your local UU church.
Donald B. Miller
A sermon delivered at First Parish in Concord
on July 10, 2011 ("Thoreau Sunday")