I pray God to rid me of God.
—Meister Eckhart, Christian mystic, ca. 1260–1328
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A friend asked me: Are you an atheist? Someone told me you were.
I don’t like labels. But I realize labels can be helpful. So I’d say it depends on what is meant by “atheism.”
In the first three centuries, the Romans condemned Christians as “atheists” because they refused to pledge loyalty to the gods of the empire. So there’s that. At times it may be necessary to declare oneself an atheist.
For example, many Christians (and others!) believe the Judeo-Christian God is more or less as George Carlin described him:
There’s an invisible man up in the sky watching everything you do. This invisible man in the sky has 10 specific rules and if you break any of them he knows it and when you die he will send you to a special place of everlasting torment from which you will never be released. Excruciating torture. Forever. But be of good cheer. The invisible man loves you very, very much.
If that’s theism, then I’m an atheist. I once believed in that God—with certain photoshop modifications—but now I want nothing to do with that God.
To be an atheist doesn’t mean you deny divinity. It just means you believe that whatever divinity is, it’s not male, narcissistic, sadistic, or petty.
There are other definitions of God, including one mentioned by the Apostle Paul on one of his better days: God is the one in whom we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17.28)
And that just happens to be very close to the 17th-century Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza’s idea of God. Spinoza was excommunicated for “not believing in God.” But as it turns out, he did believe in God—just not the Judeo-Christian variety. He believed God was nature. He was a pantheist.
He was also a humanist. He believed in reason. He didn’t blame God for plagues or earthquakes. He also believed that there was something greater to the world than the sum of its material parts. Something transcendental, mysterious, and awesome. Spinoza was a rational mystic.
And Dutch.
And maybe that’s why nearly half the Christians in the Netherlands identify as “Christian atheists.” Jesus without God. Love without dogma.
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The devout Christian of the future will either be a “mystic” or will cease to be anything at all. —Catholic theologian Karl Rahner, 1904–84
One size does not fit all. A very simple concept, but one that I believe a majority of traditional Christians may fail to accept. Or, maybe they do as evidenced by the numerous splinter denominations that exist today. It’s just that the size has to be their size to be correct.
I would suggest we join the church of no labels. But “no labels” is, of course, another label. Besides, as you said, labels can be useful. So I have often referred to myself as a Presbyterian pagan. Presbyterian for its polity or representative governing system (no bishops), and pagan in its old meaning of no particular religious affiliation except for a reverence for beauty, nature, and creation.
Amen
I couldn’t agree more with this morning’s OUTSTANDING Devil’s Gift. Thank you!
The Karl Rahner quote really resonated with me. Spirituality cannot be contained and confined to any one faith. Mystics cut across all traditions and may be a threat to the establishment. Indeed, they are cut from the same human and universal cloth regardless of religious and cultural background. The George Carlin version will not do!
Additionally, another Catholic theologian, Anthony de Mello, makes a distinction between theology and mysticism, saying theology is “the art of telling stories about the Divine and also listening to them” whereas mysticism is “the art of tasting and feeling in your heart the inner meaning of such stories to the point that they transform you.”
Finally, Biblical scholar Marcus Borg speaks of “beloving” (trusting) as more vital and central than “believing” in a spiritual journey. Hence, the focus is on experience, not mental gymnastics. The former is inclusive, the latter is not.
Thank you, Larry. I revere these thinkers, and applaud your thoughts so well expressed here.
I’ve been called virtually everything at one time or another. However, most epithets I’ll refrain from using in this forum. During my anti-war days, I was called a commie, and that was someone being polite, a dupe, fellow traveler, and an SOB. (So why are you insulting my mother?) “Sure, I’m a commie,” I’d respond, accepting the label and seeing it as such. Human’s want to label things out of convenience. At first blush, it seems to make things easier. Everything is nice, neat, and categorized. We like our little worlds to be orderly. If a situation appears to be out of the ordinary and defies existing labels, let’s invent a new name for it. Otherwise, it becomes a threat. Should we not be able even then to make sense of a new situation or a recent development, let’s call it something, or run away from it and let some Big Brother type defend us and our fragile, fearful, quaking, little psyches. Thinking and being are hard work. Can we ever stop being Sisyphus? Pushing this dang rock eternally up a hill is tough duty. But hey! That’s life. The comedy writer, poet, musician, and singer Mason Williams, probably didn’t say this one first, but he made up a nifty tune to go with it to help him drive home his point, “How useless to search it becomes, when we seek all the answers in one.”
In our times, God hangs out in a kitchen in Alabama. The chosen oracle is retro Old Testament. She appears to have studied emotive acting by watching reruns of Tammy Faye Bakker. Send a vote or some money if you can.
For me, I am the eggman, I am the walrus, goo-goo g’joob. And that is good enough for now.
Thank you for this sharing, one which will be used for discussions this week. I am thankful for your ability to put words down that can be, and ought to be, considered.
Definitions change over time, but I’ve held that being agnostic is the belief in a deity that might not fit definition, but still believing in a “presence” or a god.
Atheism is the complete lack of any god or derivation of higher power etc.
I don’t think I’m a good atheist unless I test myself by thinking and reading about different religions. I often think about people’s devotion when they see a natural disaster or a child with cancer and say, “my god wouldn’t do that”. I want to hold them accountable to the George Carlin god and tell them they are breaking the rules and aren’t a good christian, rather an agnostic heretic.
To pick and create the god YOU want to worship breaks the rules (that’s just me being bitchy). It’s very good, in my opinion, to free yourself from any churches doctrine and examine the spiritual and physical world around you without anyone else’s definition. It’s upsetting when I see people worship “their” god but tell others being LGBTQ (or similar) go against god’s rules when they aren’t following the rules either.
Point being, if more followers realized they were agnostic and not true christians or were “christian atheists” like you wrote about, a massive spiritual chill pill would envelope the earth and all would be well (or better at least).
Thanks for The Devil’s Gift!
Thanks so very much for your willingness to share honestly with us your understanding of the divine. We are yet too blinded by fear and dogma and rules and institutional demands and tribalism to follow the reason and logic that is human to understand what is real all around us. I know the divine is all around us. We see the divine in love for each other, in the beauty and power of the natural world, in the lives of people who live and sacrifice for others. I see the work of the Divine. I also ache in the face of evil around us. I see the absolute denial of the teachings of Jesus and the Hebrew prophets by those who pound their chests proclaiming hate. All I know is to nurture the love of the Divine in me and others and try to follow it. Thanks again for this.
Thanks. I guess I’m a pantheist; that seems the way of true humility, learning, observing, awed and wondering, but not worshipping.
A simple thought today, Randy: Resonates with beauty and truth; thank you.
You will never fully know how much your writings and insight means and helps to folks like myself.
It is impossible to believe that the Universe sprung from nothing.
I believe God is the Universe in which we live. Why should we not love and treasure it?
Your article today is why Hal and I always described ourselves as Trembateriens. Surely God is love in all its forms.
So then what about secularism? or secular atheists, atheistic secularists? Perhaps a future Devil’s Gift–especially given the attacks by Christian Nationalists of secularists, secular humanism? More labels ….
So then what about secularism? or secular atheists, atheistic secularists? Perhaps a future Devil’s Gift–especially given the attacks by Christian Nationalists of secularists, secular humanism? More labels?
God is difficult for us to understand, and we’re not always taught well. The standup comic Pete Holmes helped me understand our attempts, when he said that Barry Taylor, AC/DC’s road-manager, had told him: “ ‘God’ is the name of the blanket we throw over Mystery to give it shape.”
Holmes went on:
“Shouldn’t I have learned this in church?!…
…instead of from Barry Taylor??!…
…road manager of AC/DC???!! ”
Thank you. I have been struggling with my definition of Christianity. I found this very helpful. To escape from the place we were born into is difficult. I am Finding that I cannot stay where we came from, and I am disturbed. You have offered a lot. Thank you so much, Elaine