The Salvation of Religion: From Beliefs to Knowledge

Much has been written and countless discussions have ensued in recent years about the seemingly inevitible decline of Christianity and rise of secularism in America in the 21st century, which is along the lines of what happened in Europe in the mid 20th century. (See here, here, here, here, here, and here.)

Thinking and speaking of God in traditional ways (thereby using mostly biblical metaphors) has cost all forms of traditional faith in the western world both relevence and credibility. Indeed, I'd go so far as to suggest...

• The primary cause of the Church’s decline in size and influence in Europe, and now also in America, is this: valuing the Bible as scripture while failing to see that today's science, interpreted meaningfully and mythically, reveals God's nature, God’s ways, and God’s guidance far more accurately than anything the biblical writers could have accessed millennia ago.

Long before it was possible for any people to have objectively informed answers to life’s biggest questions, religious traditions provided subjectively useful answers—that is, responses that not only helped make sense of the world but also provided consistent access to life’s most cherished and important felt-experiences, including three of the most empowering: trust, gratitude, and inspiration.

All human beings everywhere, no matter what their background or beliefs, thrive when they can look to the future with trust rather than anxiety or fear; when they can look to the past with gratitude rather than resentment or guilt; and when they can deal with challenges in the present from a place of inspiration and community support. In the past, such states were readily accessible only via otherworldly beliefs. Yet today, thanks to what has been revealed to humanity through the global scientific endeavor, we can access these highly prized states through a synergy of objective knowledge and meaningful interpretation.

Atheists Promote Bible Reading?!

Fifty thousand people a day read atheist science blogger PZ Myers' posts on his blog, Pharyngula. You know we're living in an odd world when Myers and other vocal atheists are encouraging people to read their Bibles. "There's no surer way to make an atheist than to get someone to actually read scripture," says Myers. This is so, he and others claim, not only because of how unrealistic and uninspiring a mythic-biblical view of creation is compared to an evidential-evolutionary understanding, but also, especially, because of the horrific, terrorist-like way that the Bible portrays God (e.g., see Richard Dawkins' potent January 25 editorial in The Washington Post, "Haiti and the hypocrisy of Christian theology".)

Genesis 6 and 7, for example, tell of God planning and executing the slaughter by painful asphyxiation (drowning) of billions of innocent animals and millions of children and their parents in Noah's flood. Deuteronomy 3:2-6 and 7:1-2 has God commanding the ethnic cleansing of 15 to 20 million inhabitants of Canaan, including women and children. And the Book of Revelation envisions God in the future, with Jesus' assistance, brutally torturing countless animals and human beings of all ages, including children and infants.

A central message of the Hebrew scriptures, what Christians call the Old Testament, is Obey the Lord or die. The New Testament version is Believe in Jesus or fry. Either way: "Do what I tell you to do or you'll be stoned to death", or "Believe what I tell you to believe or you'll be tortured forever," are not messages most of us would expect to hear from someone who truly loves us. Atheists know this, and they also know that many believers will realize it too if they carefully read their Bibles.

Imagine someone inviting you to learn about "the greatest king who ever lived."