The Sacred Depths of Nature How Life Has Emerged and Evolved

if there is a major tension between an approach like religious naturalism and the monotheistic traditions it centers on the question of whether or not one believes in a personal god most people raised in the context of theistic traditions would probably say that being religious means believing in god

indeed when reminded that personal gods are not inherent in such systems as Buddhism or Taoism they would likely question whether these traditions are really religions and not something else like philosophies for me and probably for all of us the concept of a personal interested god can be appealing often deeply so in times of sorrow or despair

i often wonder what it would be like to be able to pray to god or Allah or Jehovah or Mary and believe that i was heard believe that my petition might be answered when i sing the hymns of faith in Jesus love i am drawn by their intimacy their allure their poetry but in the end such faith is simply not available to me i can't do it i lack the resources to render my capacity for love and my need to be loved to supernatural beings and so i have no choice but to pour these capacities and needs into earthly relationships fragile and mortal and difficult as they often are

theism versus non-theism the choice has been presented to us as saved versus damned holy versus heathen but when i talk to thoughtful theists i encounter not a polarity but a spectrum belief and faith in supernatural beings when deeply wrought are as intensely personal and individual and dynamic as our earthly relationships they add another dimension another opportunity for relationship to be sure but those of us incapable of embracing that dimension remain flooded with opportunities to open ourselves to human relationship and hence to fill our lives with the religious experience of love

if there is a major tension between an approach like religious naturalism and the monotheistic traditions it centers on the question of whether or not one believes in a personal god most people raised in the context of theistic traditions would probably say that being religious means believing in god indeed when reminded that personal gods are not inherent in such systems as Buddhism or Taoism they would likely question whether these traditions are really religions and not something else like philosophies for me and probably for all of us the concept of a personal interested god can be appealing often deeply so in times of sorrow or despair i often wonder what it would be like to be able to pray to god or Allah or Jehovah or Mary and believe that i was heard believe that my petition might be answered when i sing the hymns of faith in Jesus love i am drawn by their intimacy their allure their poetry but in the end such faith is simply not available to me i can't do it i lack the resources to render my capacity for love and my need to be loved to supernatural beings and so i have no choice but to pour these capacities and needs into earthly relationships fragile and mortal and difficult as they often are theism versus non-theism the choice has been presented to us as saved versus damned holy versus heathen but when i talk to thoughtful theists i encounter not a polarity but a spectrum belief and faith in supernatural beings when deeply wrought are as intensely personal and individual and dynamic as our earthly relationships they add another dimension another opportunity for relationship to be sure but those of us incapable of embracing that dimension remain flooded with opportunities to open ourselves to human relationship and hence to fill our lives with the religious experience of love