Category Archives: Christianity

Christianity 2.0: Secular Christianity

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How might Christianity evolve to become a better global citizen?

I remember, years ago, being startled by the idea that “Jewish” could be an ambiguous term.  It might mean an ethnic identity, or a cultural one, or a religious one.  In other words, someone could be a Jewish atheist, identifying with Judaism culturally but not religiously.  Indeed, Israeli Jews are predominantly secular.

Christian belief within America has changed, going through Great Awakenings and spawning new flavors of Christianity such as Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Seventh-Day Adventist church, and the Christian Science church.  At the turn of the early twentieth century, during the Golden Age of Freethought and decades after Darwin’s The Origin of Species, observers saw Christianity on the wane.  But Christianity rebounded, with Pentecostal and other new charismatic churches.  Today, Christianity continues to change, lately becoming more polarized within America while Europe becomes more secular.

If Christianity will continue to evolve, might it follow the example of Judaism, creating secular Christianity as a viable position?

Consider what this might be like.  A secular Christian—I could be a candidate, for example—might go to church for the beautiful or traditional or inspiring music.  The church building might be a draw, whether it were awe-inspiring or quaint.  Sermons about finding the right path or avoiding the shallow temptations in life or even Bible stories might be edifying.  Services could mark the important events in life such as births, marriages, and deaths.  Whether the secular Christian went weekly or only a few times a year, the community of good people, eager to help others, would be welcoming.  It might give focus to good works, providing opportunities for volunteering and direction for charitable giving.

But—and here’s the interesting bit—this secular Christian would reject the supernatural origin of Christianity, would be open about it, and would be accepted within the church community.

Of course, keeping the good parts of Christianity and discarding the supernatural beliefs wouldn’t solve all the world’s problems.  There would still be human folly.

But perhaps there would be a little bit less.

Related articles:

  • Moment magazine has is “Elephant in the Room” contest for the best answer to the question, What does it mean to be Jewish without belief in God?
  • Kimberly Winston, “Atheist Jews: Judaism Without God,” Huffington Post, 9/23/11.
  • The Celebrant Foundation and Institute trains people as nonreligious life-cycle celebrants.

Map of the History of Religion

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I made an interesting discovery a few years ago. Not an especially unique discovery, I’ll admit, and rather obvious in hindsight. But here goes.

The Eastern Mediterranean spawned three great religions: Judaism, then Christianity, and then Islam. With Christianity dominant in the US, it’s easy to focus only on this region. But northern India also spawned three great religions: Hinduism (before the tenth century BCE), Jainism (c. ninth century BCE), and Buddhism (c. sixth century BCE).

This short animation shows the spread of these great religions and gives a little perspective. The Judeo-Christian religions have obviously had an enormous impact on history, but they’re not the only ones.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Map of World Religions

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Everyone’s seen maps of world religions like this one.

Have you ever wondered why you never see a Map of World Science?

Let’s imagine such a map.  Over here is where scientists believe in a geocentric solar system, and over there, a heliocentric one.  This area is where they think that astrology can predict the future, and that area is where they reject the idea.  The Intelligent Design guys reign in the crosshatched area, and evolution in the dark gray area.

Naturally, each of these different groups think of their opponents as heretics, and they have fought wars over their opposing beliefs.  (To keep it manageable, I’ve shown on the map only the conflicts with more than 1000 deaths.)

Of course, the idea is nonsensical.  A new scientific theory isn’t culturally specific, and, if it passes muster, it peacefully sweeps the world.  Astronomy replaced astrology, chemistry replaced alchemy, and the germ theory replaced evil spirits as a cause of disease.  One scientist should get the same results from an experiment as another, regardless of their respective religions.  Evolution or germ theory or relativity or the Big Bang are part of the consensus view among scientists, whether they are Christian, Muslim, atheist, or Other.

Sure, there can be some not-invented-here thinking—scientists have egos, too—but this only slows the inevitable.  Contrast this with the idea that Shintoism will sweep across America over the next couple of decades and replace Christianity, simply because it’s a better idea.

Let’s go back to our map of world religions.  Religions claim to give answers to the big questions—answers that science can’t give.  Questions like: What is our purpose?  Or, Where did we come from?  Or, Is there anything else out there?  Or, What is science grounded on?

But the map shows that the religious answer to that question depends on where you are!  If you live in Tibet or Thailand, Buddhism teaches that we are here to learn to cease suffering and reach nirvana.  If you live in Yemen or Saudi Arabia, Islam teaches that we are here to submit to Allah.  We ask the most profound questions of all, and the answers are location specific?

What kind of truth depends on location?

For discovering reality, religion comes up short.  Next time someone nods his head sagely and says, “Ah, but Christianity can answer the Big Questions®,” remember how shallow that claim is.