Religion vs. ‘Meaningless Humanism’

January 1, 2023 Open Religion No Comments

This tension has been brewing for centuries on a global scale. With deeper insight into the human being, we can get beyond. Let’s do so.

Some history

For at least some 350 years, there has been a movement in the West that wanted to emancipate the human being from what was felt by many as obscure and manipulative religiosity.

At first, most humanists were religious, searching for better ways to value the human being in relation to God.

Bit by bit, the human being was emancipated toward outside the realm of religion ― with the help of science. Until famously, P-S Laplace (polymath, 1749-1827) answered to Napoleon’s question about the place of God: “God? I have no need for such a hypothesis. It may explain everything but predicts nothing.”

Thus, the human being was put on his own two feet  no wings anymore.

Religious faith was transplanted somehow into faith in progress. Consequently, an immense amount of energy went into the latter with huge achievements in many scientific domains. Man was/is going to shape his own final destiny.

And it will be a technological one, so goes the momentum. Ha! Will the returning Christ be the ultimate technocrat?

To many religious people, this seems totally devoid of deep meaningfulness ― putting religion unavoidably against ‘meaningless humanism.’

Indeed, there is no meaning in a purely materialistic universe.

Moreover, together with meaningfulness, morality also seems to go down the drain. Why would anyone try to be good if there is no meaning to it ― for instance if the laws of physics strictly predetermine everything in the universe?

Intriguingly, the latter would also take out all freedom of the human being. Thus, we end with human importance: nothing at all. The annihilation of God (famously, “God is dead!”) goes together with the annihilation of human worthiness.

Not surprisingly, this leads to much existential stress, individually and socially. The meaning crisis is one symptom of this.

So, back to religion?

Absolutely.

Or better said, not ‘back to,’ but forward to religion. We shouldn’t go back to something devoid of (even the striving for) serious rationality. As you may know, the progress in this field is the endeavor of Open Religion.

Wanting a God doesn’t create a God. Sorry, it never did. Also, as Laplace mentioned, we don’t need such a hypothesis, but we all need sacredness. The beauty is that we can get this without leaving rationality. Even better, rationality helps us in getting there.

Thus, we come to humanism of modern times, with the responsibility to shape the future of humanity as a global endeavor.

Imagine.

Leave a Reply

Related Posts

How to Use Symbols

Any symbol. Let’s say you are a religious person. Then symbols may ‘talk’ to you. How? [see also: ‘Symbolism lost. Symbolism regained’] Eventually, any symbol is… you. You are the crystal. Does light shine from you or through you? It depends on how you look at ‘you’. Does your mind only consist of conscious – Read the full article…

Secular Society

Secularism = the individual’s right to be free from the imposition of any religion by government,  in a state declared to be neutral on matters of belief. [This text goes further upon ‘Freedom of Religion’.] Sustainability from the start ‘Secular society’ is about ‘freedom of religion.’ But not only that. In order to be sustainable, Read the full article…

Opening Religions — Meaningfully

Opening religions – this is, the Open Religion endeavor – should lead to more deeper meaningfulness — certainly not less. Organized religions typically provide deep meaningfulness through storytelling. That is their main strength and also their main problem — not in the storytelling itself but through the frequently mistaken unification of the story and reality. Read the full article…

Translate »