There are ‘atheist’ or ‘non-realist’ religious humanists scattered throughout our churches, memberships and clergy – religious in attitude, practice and ethics – who do not necessarily believe in a metaphysical transcendent ‘Other’, yet are involved in the church, world and humanity. A safe and stimulating place for them to meet is in the Sea of Faith Network (SOFN). It arose out of the response to Don Cupitt’s book and BBC documentary series first broadcast in 1984, both entitled Sea of Faith. In the book and TV series, he surveyed western thinking about religion and charted a transition from traditional realist religion to the view that religion is simply a human creation.
The name Sea of Faith is taken from Matthew Arnold’s nineteenth century poem ‘Dover Beach’, in which the poet expresses regret that belief in a supernatural world is slowly slipping away – the ‘sea of faith’ is withdrawing like the ebbing tide. Following the television series, a small group of radical Christian clergy and laity began meeting to explore how they might promote this new understanding of religious faith. Starting with a mailing list of 143 sympathisers, they organised the first UK conference in 1988. The Sea of Faith Network holds national and regional conferences and promotional events each year. There is an active network of local groups who meet regularly for discussion and exploration. The group’s newsletter Portholes is published bi-monthly; its magazine Sofia is published quarterly. Currently, there are national networks in the UK, New Zealand and Australia with scattered membership elsewhere.
Although SOFN originated in Cupitt’s work and has been informed and inspired by his continuing output, it spawned several writers, all with different styles and emphases. Anglican clergymen Anthony Freeman (God in Us: A Case for Christian Humanism) and Stephen Mitchell (Agenda for Faith) are both non-realist philosophically (there is no objective morality independent of humans) and theologically (there is no objective God). By explicitly saying ‘I do believe in God, but one of the things I believe about God is that he does not exist’, Freeman had his church Office removed by his local Bishop – despite redefining God metaphorically as ‘the sum of all my values and ideals in life’. Mitchell defined the ‘self’ and ‘God’ differently. For Mitchell, the ‘self’ is social – a collection of experiences in relation to community. He sees himself not as an objective being but as someone found and known in relationship with family, friends, community and congregation. Similarly, he understands God – not as an objective being but as that experienced in relationship.
Another clergyman, Graham Shaw, can be categorised as a philosophical realist but theological non-realist. In The Cost of Authority he argues that ‘God’ is ‘a word of the creative imagination’ used to transcend the values that are current in the world. Hugh Dawes, another clergyman, presented a ‘rhetorically non-realist, theologically realist’ view in his Freeing the Faith. He wants to ‘save a God which matters’ and he elucidates a more ‘open, provisional and contemporary faith’ than traditional Christianity.
Lloyd Geering, a New Zealand theologian, emphasises the frightening scenarios of thermonuclear holocaust and global warming and the potential social and economic chaos. The religion of the future must work towards minimising such threats. His global religious eco-humanism has widened the scope of the SOFN agenda and helped persuade Cupitt to have a less individualistic, larger-scale social vision.
David Boulton, former editor of SOF Magazine, wrote a more popular book, The Trouble with God: his own early autobiography, God’s biography, the history of humanism, particularly religious humanism, and the development of SOFN. It advocates the adoption of a radical religious humanism. The most recent book by Dinah Livingstone, editor since 2004 of SOFN’s official magazine Sofia, is The Making of Humanity: Poetic Vision and Kindness. This book explores three New Testament ‘divine descents’ – the reign of God, the Christ Epic and the beautiful city New Jerusalem – as powerful poetic visions of the coming on Earth of a kind society where everyone can thrive and humanity fulfil its potential.
There is no creed or doctrinal position for SOFN members. There is a spectrum of positions from atheistic humanists to evangelical Christians, but the majority are religious humanists and non-theist Christians. There is a large minority who are regular church attenders/worshippers. But if anything, they are all fiercely independent thinkers who need to be persuaded to change or modify positions.
There has been a perceptible change to emphasising the idea of promoting the ‘value’ and ‘validity’ of religion, even though a human creation. This is evident in the current magazine, Sofia, where theology and biblical texts are mined for their poetic and metaphorical insights into the human condition and human ethical and social concerns. There is less such emphasis on religious texts and theology by other members, usually those not from a church background. They may focus on Don Cupitt’s ‘solar living’ with little need to reference biblical material.
In conclusion, the synthesis of humanism and religion into a still relevant radical religious humanism – as illustrated in the life-work of Don Cupitt and worked out in the SOF Networks – should be taken more seriously and broadcast more widely in the Religion and Atheism debate. Since I drafted much of this ‘hypothetical missing chapter’, the editors, Anthony Carroll and Richard Norman, have spoken at SOFN’s National Conference. Richard Norman said: ‘Can there be hope without faith? Without faith in a divine providence, isn’t hope for the future just whistling in the dark? This is a tough question for atheists and humanists, and therefore a good topic for dialogue between atheists and religious believers. It is a good question also, I would think, for the Sea of Faith movement. The book which Tony Carroll and I co-edited, aimed at promoting better dialogue between religious and non-religious people, has the subtitle “Beyond the Divide”, and I would like to pay tribute to the way in which members of the SOF network have pioneered the attempt to go beyond that divide.’ Thank you, Professor Norman.
Clem Cook is the SOF webmaster and a Trustee of the SOF Network (UK).