Try to fathom a cosmos that is so immense that it takes a
beam of light fifteen billion years to travel from one end to the other. Who
can fathom fifteen billion years? Now try to think of the size of the universe
by calculating the speed of light at 186,000 miles per second, 11,160,000 miles
per minute, 669,600,000 miles per hour, 16,070,400,000 miles per day, 5,869,713,600,000
miles per year. Now all you have to do is multiply that by 15,000,000,000.
That’s the size of the universe. We literally do not have words to express that
number. It is incomprehensible and ineffible.
Who among us has ever seen an atom, let alone the subatomic
particles that constitute these mini-universes? When I was in high school, it
was enough to tackle protons, neutrons and electrons. Now we’re obliged to
contemplate quarks and leptons and neutrinos. And only recently we added a new
subatomic particle, the Higgs boson, the so-called “God particle.” In those old
days, outer space was filled with planets, stars and galaxies. Now just try to
imagine a black hole, an area of space where mass is so dense and gravity so
strong that it swallows light. Swallows light?! Go figure.
Now imagine someone claiming that he or she has the
infallible absolute truth about the deepest mysteries of this immense cosmos
all contained in one book. Is there a book, a doctrine that I can just read and
then say, “Now I know; now I understand?” Where’s the priest, the pastor, the
prophet even, who can explain to me on a Sunday morning all of what takes place
in the far reaches of the cosmos and in the infinitesimal internal structures
of an atom. What expert would have the hubris to present a book that would
claim to unravel all of these mysteries?
Wouldn’t we consider any attempt to reduce cosmic grandeur
to a single book to be a diminution of that grandeur? Would that not seem a
vain attempt, devoid of significance, empty, trifling? Now consider the fact
that all of the words in the Bible that are translated “blasphemy” have to do
with exactly that. They are all words that mean empty, hollow, vain, trifling,
and they refer to the attribution of these qualities to God. Blasphemy is the
trivialization of divinity.
Those of us who are religious understand that there is a
consciousness, a being perhaps, who created and maintains this immense,
mysterious cosmos. And when it comes to this being, yes, there are those who
claim to have all of the secrets explained. Yes, they say, there is a book; no
not a book that could explain all of the mysteries of the cosmos. That’s
incomprehensible, ineffible, hidden. But the being who created and maintains
this immense structure, that’s easy. Just read this book.
Thank you for this reasoned, CRITICAL opinion about the "blasphemy" involved in literal, pre-critical religious belief.
ReplyDeleteYou and I seem to share a common mission of exposing the depth and beauty of POST-CRITICAL faith, and differentiating it from the superficiality of PRE-CRITICAL religious belief.
How is it that so much of our society seems to be mired in the latter, less mature variety?
Margaret Placentra Johnston
www.exploring-spiritual-develoment.com
www.FaithBeyondBelief-Book.com
Thanks for your reply, Margaret. I've just been to your website and am intrigued by the notion of spiritual maturity. I have not yet given up on what has been called "organized religion." However, given the piece on Religion Dispatches about the future of liberal religion, as well as Ross Douthat's op ed in the Sunday Review/New York Times on the decline of liberal churches, religious progressives must begin to move beyond social reform/social action and take a hard look at how we address spiritual/religious questions: God, the sacred, worship, spiritual practice, etc. Let's face it, there is real energy in some of the fundamentalist houses of worship. Is there a religious, humanist, spiritual gospel church?
DeleteThank you both so much!
ReplyDeleteJust found your blogs today, from another blog.
You seem to be questioning what I also think about.
I left the Catholic church almost 2 years ago after 56 years. These last 2 years have left me adrift, praying reading and really thinking before I commit to another religion(if I even do!).
The Evangelicals scare me, their tenacious, holier then thou and their desire to make my country their religious one.
As a Catholic, I studied the New Testament, and followed the teachings of Christ. I read the OT, but understood that the Jews followed the OT and 'Christians' followed Christ. I could never believe the bible as the was factually true or that religion trumps science.
It doesn't make sense to me.
I have a very sad suspicion that all good people will have to take a stand against the evangelical propaganda, not because that they are bad and we are good, but to maintain our own individual religions and to worship freely in the US.
Don't despair. What I am trying to accomplish, and what many others are trying to accomplish is to bring a different perspective to the religious quest that is not based on doctrine, but that honors each individual's sacred quest and encounter with the divine.
DeleteTagging along a few months later and from still another perspective, I am excited to have found you and Margaret Placentra Johnston on the same day while wondering how best to respond to a commenter on my own blog. Not only resources but companions on the journey! Coming from our different perspectives, we are moving in a common direction.
ReplyDeleteBoth my book and my blog originated in a thirty-year study of distressing spiritual experiences, whether near-death or otherwise. Obviously, these kinds of events lead people to sometimes frantic questioning and massive overturnings of faith and practice; so along with explaining what little is known about these types of experience, I am giving my MA in pastoral ministry a workout answering questions about 'what is religion, and can I have faith without it?'
Going right now to link your blog to my blogroll. Thank you for existing!
Nancy Evans Bush, dancingpastthedark.com