Sea of Faith is often i emis yh Faced wih the challenge: “We know what you don’t beli sah ott cath wae fuk dogmas: no creeds - and no belief that “belief >” are the vscuanoe of abdious abuses ure oe may : , a useful exercise to reflect on where We hin m vtexplor fonee rafgious faith as a ummen cree fon as taken and is taking us. What can wo Ty tovertor aiveh brosel ee ee hada i - oking at things”? What follows is designed roctinalste wouee ONG down sleeeaighelrin s meant to OPEN UP a debate, not close it; to ee ee wer eee ers and local groups are invited to wore throug! ‘the “ton ea ales aaa Bo improwng whatever may seem to be veefid Th vcard we teurvieione many different versions, all provisi etter draft by drafting in your own experi | MA smote op with any oierere vere ns, are ° isional, temporary and wholly unofficial Ne 5 will ver boat fomeard a o plans to nail them to the door of einbeth Palace! But if et oreies he ! But if the exercise helps us think throu “oi : gh what is distinctive ab is a human creation, it wi e about Sea of Faith, and n, it will be worth th , and what we mean wh e effort (and, n when we say that religi i , no doubt, the ar: y religious faith ' guments!).
So try these for size... ten hypotheses 1. No set of statements about religious faith will ever tell the truth, the whole | truth and nothing but the truth. Time will fray them all as our insights and our ability to articulate them change- This naturally holds good for the hypotheses , that follow. | 2. All religions, faith systems and varieties of religious oF spiritual faith and | practice are human constructs: part of the wondrous complex of experience, | accumulated knowledge, creative imagination and reflective consciousness | which we call culture. We may speak of the divine, the transcendent and the | ultimate, but we do so in the clear understanding that these are human | concepts. We created them. | 3. We each live one natural life in one natural world. What we may choose to | call supernatural is a product of our creative imagination, itself a part of our natural world which is made intelligible to us through the signs and symbols of language. 4. As religion itself is the product of the creative impulse, so too are its gods | and godesses, spirits and demons, angels and devils. They are human ) creations, imagined into being by human communities in all their rich variety of | histories, languages and cultures. All deities reside in the human breast, | including the god of the great monotheist traditions, the god named God. The | Creator God is our creation, the Father God our projection, the Saviour Cod our own solution to our own inadequacies and alienation. Heaven is the best we can imagine, hell the worst, and both are here and now. 5. All religious scriptures, like any other writings, are the work of fallible individuals and communities, and therefore themselves fallible, open to critical scrutiny and creative reinterpretation. Their stories and songs have helped us make imaginative sense of an apparently senseless world, enabling us to fashion meaning and purpose for our lives. They help us see visions and dream dreams. We belittle these stories at the risk of undervaluing a rich heritage and impoverishing our imagination: but we elevate them into expressions of eternal truth at our peril. 6. Our faith is religious in the depth of its seriousness and the sincerity of its commitment: but it is also secular in the literal sense that it is of this world and for this age, the only world we know and the only age we can experience. It is a faith that dissolves the old differences between the sacred and the secular, the human and the divine, the natural and the supernatural. It does not deify humanity, but it understands that the values which lighten our darkness are human values, and could be no other. 7. We are believers. We choose to believe and have faith in the values of mercy, pity, peace and love, and whatsoever things are true, honest, just, lovely and of good report. For many, God remains a potent, inspirational symbol of these values. Where God is worshipped, it is these values which are affirmed as expressions of the wholly human spirit, and thus of the spiritual life. 8. True religion and undefiled is to visit the afflicted, feed the hungry, empower the powerless, exalt the humble and put down the mighty from their seats. Religion detached from justice and the relief of suffering is at best incomplete and at worst a delusion. False religion and defiled invokes an imagined supernaturalism to impose authority, sanctify power, promote fear and superstition, foster division, fortify the strong and gull the gullible. It holds out false hope of compensation for present woes in a future heaven and threatens punishment for present disobedience in a future hell. It puts a self-centred quest for individual salvation before the greater good of the whole community of humanity and all living creatures. It turns the Cod of our imagination into a tyrant. 9. The life of faith is a life of change, growth, renewal: a life of exploration and experimentation, of making new discoveries and discarding them when they fail us. It is a life on the ocean wave, not one that seeks the seclusion of a safe harbour. It is for the seeker, not the finder; for those who would make meaning and purpose rather than buy them off the peg. It demands hope, charity, determination, and a welldeveloped sense of humour. 10. We cherish the best in our human heritage of religious faith, tradition and practice as we cherish the best in our rich heritage of music, poetry, the arts, the sciences, and everything that gives eloquent, imaginative expression to the wholly human spirit. We made it, and because we made it we can refashion it to meet our changing needs, understandings and experience. To explore and promote religious faith as a human creation, a human recreation, a human responsibility to ourselves and to all living creatures, and as a source of delight: this is our challenge and our adventure.