FJORDS OF FAITH The Anthony Freeman affair was widely reported around the world. This is how Norway’s largest daily, Aftenposten, introduced its readers to ‘‘Christian humanism”? in a major feature article on August 12.
They are trained to believe that humanity is created by God. But clergy in the Sea of Faith Network believe that God is a human creation.
They call themselves Christian humanists and believe that all religion is a human creation, They reject the notion of God as an almighty, supernatural being, but do not distance themselves from religious culture, language and symbolism. Most of all they hold to the Christian moral view.
Most of them are intellectual clergymen, philosophers or teachers. In the past five years they have assembled like-minded people from all over Britain into the Sea of Faith Network.
The network has 600 members, and a very large number of them are clergy of different churches - Anglicans, Roman Catholics and others.
What unites Sea of Faith’s 600 members is the wish to ‘‘explore and promote religious faith as a human creation’’. Beyond that there are no doctrines, and views are as varied as the members’ own backgrounds.
Recently one of the Network’s members became the first Church of England priest this century to have to leave his post on account of his theological views, when he openly admitted that he could no longer believe in a God ‘‘out there’’, He wrote a book, God in Us, while still working as a full-time clergyman. In it he explained his view that God is a symbol for the best in human beings, the sum of our highest values and ideals.
Reactions such as ‘‘the church is housing atheists in its midst’’ were natural and not unexpected. Fears became even stronger when it emerged that at least 100 Church of England clergy shared his views and were keen discussion partners in the Sea of Faith Network.
When David Boulton, editor of the movement’s magazine, is asked about the Network’s line on matters of belief, his answer is typical: ‘‘We are a Network for exploring ideas, so I can only speak for myself’’.
We met David Boulton, a former television producer and historian from Dent, Cumbria, in Manchester, and asked how one can deny God’s existence and at the same time call oneself a Christian humanist. “I’m a Christian in the cultural sense, the product of western Christian culture, built on values I esteem very highly. For me all religion is part of human culture, the result of human effort to create order and meaning. The fact that humans created religion doesn’t make it any less valuable.” Although he no longer finds it possible to believe in the supernatural, in the form of gods, spirits, devils or other magic powers, he nevertheless participates regularly in religious meetings. ‘‘Meditation and reflection can lift us out of the everyday and help make us better human beings’’.
How can members of the clergy accept such views? ‘‘They have simply adopted what they find a more credible view of what God is, and what the church is - or could become. The message is still that God is love - or love is God. The essence of religion is ideas of mercy, pity, peace and love. These are values we very much believe in and want to proclaim. ‘*But if these all-important values are tied to a context from a bygone age which people can no longer believe in - the supernatural, virgin births and so on - there’s a risk that the message will disappear too. We see fewer and fewer people going to church, but there’s nothing wrong with the central message.” The virgin birth and the resurection are ‘‘incredibly beautiful stories which no more need to be read literally than the story of the creation of the world in seven days.
The resurrection story expresses the conviction that the message of Jesus could not be crushed, even though the messenger was crucified.”’ So Christian humanists believe in Jesus? “‘Whether or not Jesus lived exactly as the stories say is not important. What matters is the beauty, the power and Pe - eT wo cite the meaning of the stories. What we are trying to do is to hold on to the essentials, the human values and the heart of the story, and allow the dogmas and the supernatural to slowly but surely die out’’.
The article prompted a number of enquiries from interested readers, including the Theological Faculty at Oslo University and the Norwegian Humanist Association. It is hoped to set up a Sea of Faith group in Norway - though, as SoF member and Norway resident Iain Robertson writes below, there is much conservatism to be overcome, both in the churches and the humanist movements.