Working with conventional Christianity as it now is in order to promote COMPASSION and FORGIVENESS should be possible.
It should promote an ATHEIST and HUMANIST SPIRITUALITY.
It should totally omit a belief in GOD or a belief in LIFE AFTER DEATH.
Belief in these two things should not be NECESSARY or ADVISABLE.
But even with these conditions, working with Christianity is possible.
It can provide STABILITY, REASSURANCE, TRADITION and HISTORY.
Images of the crucifixion could be used or seen as symbols of STOICISM - accepting that life, like the crucifixion, is terrible, but persevering nonetheless.
Images of Mary could be used or seen as symbols of human LOVE and human COMPASSION.
Love and compassion will have to be the major part of any religion of the future.
In such a Christianity, Jesus would be seen as a human being - not as a God or as "divine" in any way.
And the Bible would be seen as a work of human literature - not a divinely-inspired scripture of any kind.
Other things that working with Christianity could provide include the transcendent - in the sense of human unity and human solidarity; the certainty of the correctness of love and forgiveness - even if God and Life After Death are FALSE beliefs.
If abandonment of compulsory beliefs in GOD and LIFE AFTER DEATH means the end of Christianity, then so be it.
If a Christianity stripped of a belief in God and Life After Death is not possible, then so be it.
Something along these lines is my vision of a CULTURAL CHRISTIANITY, as I would practise it.
Humanist prayers are possible and already well evolved as Richard Holloway makes clear in his "Little History of Religion."
A rational humanist faith has to be possible.
Another virtue of Christianity is its emphasis on HOPE - which of course is something worth preserving. This has to be a HOPE in humanity and NOT in God or an afterlife.
By "the transcendent" I do not mean a GOD of any kind.
I mean a belief in the value of human life and of the Universe.
.......
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Sunday 18th March 2018. "Dougnut Christianity".
In the light of the above thoughts, and seeing as it seems to be all the rage, perhaps we could even talk of a "Doughnut Christianity".
I see this perhaps as a Christianity without an external belief in LIFE AFTER DEATH; and with a hole in the middle like a doughnut where the central aspect of a BELIEF IN GOD AND THE SUPERNATURAL has been taken out.
Which could possibly leave a space that would be SAFE and JUST - not to mention SCIENTIFIC and ETHICAL - the doughnut - for humanity to practice some form of Christianity.
This concept makes me chuckle a little but could have something to it.
Once again, I think of the concept of a lifebuoy as well. A lifebuoy to save those jumping from the sinking ship that Christianity could be seen to be.
=========================================
It should promote an ATHEIST and HUMANIST SPIRITUALITY.
It should totally omit a belief in GOD or a belief in LIFE AFTER DEATH.
Belief in these two things should not be NECESSARY or ADVISABLE.
But even with these conditions, working with Christianity is possible.
It can provide STABILITY, REASSURANCE, TRADITION and HISTORY.
Images of the crucifixion could be used or seen as symbols of STOICISM - accepting that life, like the crucifixion, is terrible, but persevering nonetheless.
Images of Mary could be used or seen as symbols of human LOVE and human COMPASSION.
Love and compassion will have to be the major part of any religion of the future.
In such a Christianity, Jesus would be seen as a human being - not as a God or as "divine" in any way.
And the Bible would be seen as a work of human literature - not a divinely-inspired scripture of any kind.
Other things that working with Christianity could provide include the transcendent - in the sense of human unity and human solidarity; the certainty of the correctness of love and forgiveness - even if God and Life After Death are FALSE beliefs.
If abandonment of compulsory beliefs in GOD and LIFE AFTER DEATH means the end of Christianity, then so be it.
If a Christianity stripped of a belief in God and Life After Death is not possible, then so be it.
Something along these lines is my vision of a CULTURAL CHRISTIANITY, as I would practise it.
Humanist prayers are possible and already well evolved as Richard Holloway makes clear in his "Little History of Religion."
A rational humanist faith has to be possible.
Another virtue of Christianity is its emphasis on HOPE - which of course is something worth preserving. This has to be a HOPE in humanity and NOT in God or an afterlife.
By "the transcendent" I do not mean a GOD of any kind.
I mean a belief in the value of human life and of the Universe.
.......
-------------------------------
Sunday 18th March 2018. "Dougnut Christianity".
In the light of the above thoughts, and seeing as it seems to be all the rage, perhaps we could even talk of a "Doughnut Christianity".
I see this perhaps as a Christianity without an external belief in LIFE AFTER DEATH; and with a hole in the middle like a doughnut where the central aspect of a BELIEF IN GOD AND THE SUPERNATURAL has been taken out.
Which could possibly leave a space that would be SAFE and JUST - not to mention SCIENTIFIC and ETHICAL - the doughnut - for humanity to practice some form of Christianity.
This concept makes me chuckle a little but could have something to it.
Once again, I think of the concept of a lifebuoy as well. A lifebuoy to save those jumping from the sinking ship that Christianity could be seen to be.
=========================================