Opinion
Doing away with doctrine
JULIAN BAGGINI M
any atheists are willing to admit that religion is at least sometimes benign in its results, in terms of well-being,
sense of community, stress on altruism and so on. The only problem is you need to believe a load of nonsense to reap the dividend. But can you have a religion that gives the same results, without having to take the doctrinal medicine? It was with that question in mind that I
recently went to a Sunday service at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Santa Fe, New Mexico. UUs, as they are known, are completely non-doctrinaire. Many of them are atheists or agnostics. The Santa Fe congregation describes its mission as “seeking to create a loving community, inspire spiritual growth, and encourage lives of integrity, joy, and service.”
The service itself was based on the
traditional elements of worship, such as readings, singing, music and some communal affirmations. But perhaps most interesting of all was the sermon, in which the Rev. Gary Kowalski argued that we need organised religion in order for our spiritual lives to reach their full potential. “Romance and marriage are like spirituality and religion,” he said. “What starts out as a totally private affair has to take on an organised, cultural embodiment, or else it remains inchoate and incomplete.” But can his kind of religion really provide the same fulfilment as one that comes with doctrinal baggage? For some, perhaps. In the USA, this may be particularly the case
17
because churches there are much more at the heart of community life and voluntary work. But in a country like ours, where not going to church is the norm, we need more reason to go to one than it provides a social, altruistic locus. Unless you just really like the particular kind of community church provides - and it is a unique and for many wonderful one - it feels to me somewhat hollow and unsatisfying to go and sing and hear readings whose only connection is rather vague commitment to noble humanistic values. I suspect that one reason why
Unitarianism is not bigger is because religious communities are usually bound by the sense that they are not just there because they want to, but because they are somehow obliged to come together to serve their God. Without the belief that one is connecting with the divine in some way, there are plenty of other ways of finding meaning, friendship and inspiration. I respect the Unitarians and applaud their attempts to keep hold of what is valuable in the religious life while letting go of untenable superstition. But I think what they ultimately demonstrate is that belief is not so easily separable from religion after all. The marginal place of UUs in the religious ecosystem only goes to show how that is far from the norm. Those who maintain that out-dated doctrines are of little consequence in religion need to explain why it is that the UUs are unique in explicitly jettisoning them.
.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32