William Blake's "The Ancient of Days setting a compass to the earth" |
I just became acquainted with Nancy Abrams’ book A God that Could Be Real last month when she and I both participated in Matthew Fox’s “Blog Tour.” Each of us who participated wrote a review of Matthew Fox’s newly revised and updated autobiography, Confessions, with a new review posted each day (to see all of the reviews, go here).
Interestingly enough, we all chose
to take a personal approach, relating how our lives were enriched by contact
with Matthew Fox and his writings. Abrams’ review, however, was one that really
stood out, and prompted me to explore her website. Here is an excerpt from her
review that I thought speaks to where many of us are and I think it is what
many of us “progressives” need to hear:
Spirituality is the driving force of life to Matthew Fox, and he
is convinced it’s not only accessible in the modern world but essential to our
survival. Without healing the wounds of religion, he writes, no one can build
an authentic political coalition. They need “fire in the belly about justice
and compassion.”
Fire in the belly is what everyone who wants to save the world
needs! The spiritual power that underlies religions belongs to us, not to the
religions. If we disdain that, how are we to become a real force in changing
the world and not just an esoteric group of scientists, philosophers, and
philanthropists?
We need the experience
of oneness that impassions the motivation to act collectively
and that Fox calls the mystic. “When progressive thinkers and doers stay as far
away from religion as they can, they
turn over religious language and religious values to the very fundamentalists
whom they oppose as political right-wingers (Fox’s
italics).” (Read the entire review here)
In reading Ms. Abrams’ review, she
made reference to her book A God that
Could Be Real. I have not read her book, but when I went to her website, I found
some information about the book as well as a blog post she had written in
response to a reviewer’s comments in the Los
Angeles Review of Books. The reviewer apparently was an atheist who highlighted
reasons why he and others of like mind have no need for any concept of God. Reading Abram’s
response brought to mind many discussions I have had, in terms of what we mean
when we say “God.”
Objectionable
Traits Attributed to God
Usually, when I hear or read one of the “new
atheists” describe the god they do not believe in, my response is that I do not
believe in that sort of god either, but that in no way makes me an atheist. So
often they are targeting some “sky god” who keeps tally on human actions and
zaps some people with plagues, floods and other punishments while demanding attention
from human subjects. Such a petty god is far too small for divine status, and
far too easy to discredit. (I elaborated on some of these god-concepts in another
post, “Image and Likeness.”)
Bertrand Russell has made the best argument for
atheism in his book Why I am Not a
Christian. In my opinion, no other atheist has been shown to be his equal.
Even at that, however, Russell’s book does little more than to set up a paper
tiger against which to make his argument. The “new atheists” do the same thing,
just not as well as Russell did.
The other tactic that the “New Atheists”
typically take is to enumerate all of the ills that religion has brought. Usually
wars, violence, prejudice, The Inquisition, etc. are on the list of harmful traits of religion. The argument seems to insinuate that if we could rid ourselves of religion we would be free from those objectionable traits. The truth is that all of the ills they mention are human ills rather than specifically religious traits. Consequently, we will likely carry
those ills with us wherever we go, whether we take religion with us or not. They are indeed ills that we should seek to overcome, but scapegoating religion will not deliver us from our own evil.
Two
Responses to the Question of God
Now back to Nancy Abrams
and her book. You
can find information about A God that Could
Be Real on her website. I like the way physicist Paul Davies summarizes the
current debate as well as the value of Abram’s presentation in his comment
about her book:
“Over the past two decades a largely sterile
dispute has raged between two diametrically opposing camps: atheists and
religious fundamentalists. It is surely time to move on and elevate the
discussion to a higher intellectual level. This ambitious and thought-provoking
book by Nancy Abrams on the interface of science and religion is a timely and
welcome contribution to a more productive discussion of the topic”
Her website also has a
link to her blog where you can read “My Response to Marcelo Gleiser's review of
A God That Could Be Real.” You will find
that post here.
Roger Olson, professor
and theologian, has a blog at Patheos wherein he presents his views as an Arminian Evangelical
Christian. He is a very disciplined scholar (he says to his readers, “Before
you can say 'I disagree,' you must first be able to say 'I understand'”).
Olson brings his
scholarship to bear in a recent post in which he explains for us lay people the
different views of God when he asks, “Do All Atheists Deny the Same God?” I
would recommend his essay for anyone wanting an accessible overview of what
different people have meant when they have referred to God. You can see that
essay here.
And Don't Forget the Comedians
No discussion of God would be complete without input from the comic side. Comedians help us to not take ourselves too seriously, and they often serve as a safety valve of sorts to keep some of the pressures of society down a bit. Being able to joke about the unknown and incomprehensible can put a healthy balance to the subject of God. Cartoonist Gary Larson, in The Far Side comic strip offered many illustrations of God. This is one of my favorites, “Acts of God.”
And Don't Forget the Comedians
No discussion of God would be complete without input from the comic side. Comedians help us to not take ourselves too seriously, and they often serve as a safety valve of sorts to keep some of the pressures of society down a bit. Being able to joke about the unknown and incomprehensible can put a healthy balance to the subject of God. Cartoonist Gary Larson, in The Far Side comic strip offered many illustrations of God. This is one of my favorites, “Acts of God.”
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