Don't blame religion

Jan 22, 2010

"We are living in a time when not only religious extremism is a concern, but we are also dealing with secularism and modernism," Evans, the former chairman of the USC Department of Religious Studies, said this week.

"All of them are pointing to some realities that concern everyone: The religious extremism in the world and the way that religious extremism often turn violent."

But he suggests that the authors are cherry-picking religion, reading the Bible with the same literal eye that they find so ironic among the religious. Their arguments dismiss the love, community and good works that define those who see spirituality and religion as a vital part of life, he said.

"There is no room in the new atheists' view of God for the Christian notion of a God of infinite love," he said. "Such a view of God cannot be proved by empirical evidence, but Christians know the value of trusting infinite love to give life coherence, meaning, and hope."

Evans believes the authors view religion as "mindless belief in ancient and outdated ideas" without regard for the evolving scholarship of theologians over centuries, he said.

Source: The State

The Religion of Jesus -- according to the Urantia Book

The Urantia Book, paper 196, recorded text with slideshow. ProMyst does not necessarily subscribe to all of the teachings or theories or origins ...

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Religion, Spirituality, and Empathy

I'm almost finished preparing my sessions for the Houston conference. My talks are called, "Sacred Rights and the Empathic Life: Religion, Forgiveness, and the Art of Compassion."

Actually, "Rights" is a play on words. It could be "Rites" just as easily.

It's not so much a critique of religion as it is a possible way of reframing religious experience. I draw from Karen Armstrong on the development of religion, and I use a brilliant line from Samir Selmanovic's book It's Really All About God as my theme. "People simply want to live a good life."

Incidentally, I highly recommend Samir's book. He is a great writer and has a compelling and transformational story.

I'm not negative on "religion" as a practice, word, or concept. I know religion has become a bit of a dirty word, and a lot of folks prefer to replace religion with "spirituality." The difference seems to be that religion connotes institutional practices and beliefs where spirituality connotes individual practices and beliefs.

That's too bad, and I suppose there is no use fighting it. That's just where the center of gravity seems to be these days. And when religious voices like Pat Robertson make ignorant and heartless comments, you can understand why thoughtful people are fed up with institutionalized religion. I even offered a brief critique of institutional religion in my book, This Book Will Change Your World.

Spirituality recognizes the importance of nurturing the inner space. Relatively few folks are giving up their sense of spirit and opting for flatland materialism. It used to be that people left church because they lost their faith. Today, people are leaving becuase they found it.

Even so, individual spirituality isn't necessarily the utopia it may seem to be. It can foster shallow and selfish living. Meanwhile, plenty of people involved in institutional religion have a thriving spirituality. And in some ways the single most diverse...