Bigthink - User Ideas Feed

A religion for the future

Bigthink — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:24:43 +0100

Religions tend to be divisive sources of conflict. That’s because they proclaim a god that is based on speculation and anecdotal experiences. This faith-based approach to truth is out of step with modern logic, and leads to disputes that can never be resolved. On the other hand, materialistic humanism and science have icy hearts that exclude the warmth of meaning in our existence.

Yet there is universal evidence of spirituality in each human. This spirituality transcends the physical world without being in conflict with it. It provides purpose and morality. It is the basis for a religion that embraces and unifies all people. This is a religion for the new century.

Traditional religion asks “Do you believe?” or “Are you saved?” This new religion asks only “Do you have free will?” Free will recognizes that you are limited by your physical time and place. It recognizes that you are influenced by your genes and experience. But it also asserts that every day you are faced with many true choices. Which choice you pick is under your control. You have the possibility of making the unexpected choice.

Think about what it means to say that you have free will. It means that some of your decisions are not controlled by the master plan of some god. It means that they are not pre-ordained by the laws of nature, nor randomized by the chaos of sub-atomic particles. We rely on predictable laws every time we board an airplane or microwave our popcorn. But we are not merely another machine; free will makes us different.

Free will is so deeply embedded in our everyday lives that it seems quite ordinary. But the implications are profound. Only humans have the self-awareness that allows us to contemplate our free will. Only humans can see that part of our reality is not controlled by mechanistic forces, and is therefore spiritual. At the same time, we recognize that we did nothing to earn our human spirits, that one person is not more deserving than another, because we all have received this gift. We recognize that ignoring a precious gift diminishes the potential of our life experience. And we recognize that humans, as social animals, can best celebrate and cultivate this gift as part of a community.

So here we have a religion that brings people together, a religion that can support them as they explore their own spirituality, without denigrating the explorations of others. It is a religion that accepts and is curious about the physical world and its laws. It is a religion based on respect for the gift of free will in others, and not on some rigid set of rules. It is a religion for our future.

Re: How do I use Big Think?

Bigthink — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:00:38 +0100

: Why do you make such extensive use of tiny, grayed type on your pages? What's wrong with plain old black type?

God's word

Bigthink — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:42:10 +0100

: Discussions about the inerrancy of the Bible often stray into the swamp of quibbling over details. I've gone there, too. But recently I got into some interesting discussions with inerrancy advocates by trying to understand their core assumptions. So I asked, "How do we know that the Bible is God's inerrant word?" A common answer was "Because the God says so." So then I asked, "How do we know that God even exists to speak to us?" The answer was: "Because the Bible says so." So God validates the Bible and the Bible validates God. I must admit, it doesn't seem very productive to argue with circular logic like that, but it's not very persuasive if you're outside the circle. I'm curious if anyone has a non-circular argument for the Bible's inerrancy?

Re: 3 beliefs about life

Bigthink — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 21:25:24 +0100

: I agree that it is better to have a religion based on your own experience than on something somebody has told you to believe. For me, the fact of human free will opens the door to a reality that is more than physical laws. Because humans are self-aware enough to recognize this free will in themselves, they are capable of experiencing a spirituality that sets them apart from rocks and ants and even chimpanzees. But I did not earn this spirituality, nor do I deserve it more than any other human. For me, this suggests a non-judgmental religious community where we celebrate and cultivate this special gift in ourselves and in others.

Re: Predestination

Bigthink — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:10:38 +0100

: God might not know the future if His creation included the ability of humans (or any creature) to have free will. In that case, some outcomes would be unpredictable. To claim that God created the universe is not the same as claiming that God is omniscient. What gets folks into trouble is claiming that God is omnipotent and omniscient, which presents the logical conundrum you suggest.

Is spirituality for real?

Bigthink — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:00:49 +0100

: If you have a good spiritual life, that's great. But lots of folks are hung up on spirituality. Maybe they think it should mean something to them, but it doesn't really. Or maybe they're skeptics, thinking that spirituality is a crock made up by religions. Or maybe they think something's missing from their lives, but don't really know what it is.   My theory is that everybody has spirituality inside themselves. They can find and confirm this spirituality based on their own experience, not what some book or preacher tells them. This inner spirituality exists in harmony with nature, but is a reality that is not governed by the laws of nature.   What's more, this spirituality is part of the miracle that is you. This miracle is a precious gift given to every human. Even if we don't know where this gift came from, we can recongize it and cultivate it. And what if we ignore this gift? Some authority figure or greater power is not going to punish us. But we may kick ourselves for letting a wonderful gift go ignored, just as we would if we left a special present to gather dust on a closet shelf.   So what is this spirituality? How do you know it's real? You don't have to read a book or go on a retreat. Just ask yourself this one question: Do you believe you have free will? That doesn't mean you can do anything just by wishing it. And it doesn't mean that you aren't influenced by all sort of things—your genes, your upbringing, what happened to you yesterday. It just means that every day you face some real choices, and you have the possibility of doing the unexpected. YOU have that choice. YOU are the deciding factor.  In other words, humans are physical animals, but there'e more to it than that. We're not just machines. Our decisions are not all pre-programmed. They are not all predictable; some are actually spontaneous expressions of the human spirit within us.   What I'm saying may be different from what many religions say, because I'm not talking about God or heavenly rules or having faith. It doesn't matter if you're a mystic or a humanist. It doesn't matter if you're a theist, atheist, or agnostic. But neither is this approach hostile to religion. I'm just saying that there's an easy, but untraditional, way to confirm your own spirituality, and to recognize that each human is blessed with a special gift. And once you've recongized the possibility of a non-physical reality in our physical, scientific world, you're ready to begin your own exploration of what spirituality means to you and to others. 