Humanist and Atheist Chaplaincy

"The nonreligious population is exploding, and somebody has to minister to them. Harvard’s humanist chaplain is on the road, sharing a vision of the common good, hoping his message will resonate with theists and atheists alike." (Religion Dispatches, Oct. 30, 2009)

With millions of people identifying as "non-religious" or "non-theist" in the U.S. there is a growing and often unrecognized need for spiritual or emotional counseling of those that fall into this group. Greg Epstein is one who has stepped up. He is a "humanist chaplain" at Harvard University who has recently published a book called Good Without God: What a Billion Non-religious People Do Believe (William Morrow, 2009) which discusses the reality of an atheistic spirituality.

I've been curious about this relatively new distinction people oftentimes make between 'religion' and 'spirituality.' When I ask people about the difference between the meaning of the two terms they usually retort that religion has something to do with institutions, social gathering, doctrine, dogma, etc. whereas spirituality has more to do with a personal, individual pursuit of meaning and truth. Thus, on this distinction, the notion of an atheistic spirituality would make sense, I suppose. Atheists can consider themselves spiritual but not religious; they have a personal quest for meaning and truth but not one that involves a particular institutional affiliation, doctrine, or belief about God, deity, divinity, or the like.

Since atheists do often consider themselves spiritual persons, then it is crucial that the spiritual service of chaplaincy address their particular needs as well. Thus, we must have chaplains that are trained and prepared to meet the emotional and spiritual needs of atheistic worldviews and lives, chaplains that can make that modern/post-modern distincition between religion and spirituality when working with atheist persons.

I like the idea of the work that Greg Epstein is doing. This kind of activity needs more public attention. This is an area of chaplaincy that is not much talked about but is crucial for servicing the spiritual needs of a now significant population of the U.S. and the world.

Read a review article of Epstein's new book at Religion Dispatches.

(Above image from Religion Dispatches.)

Prayers and Meditations of World Religions Course

I just started teaching/facilitating a class at Unity Church of Peoria, IL called "Prayers and Meditations of the World's Religons." The aim of the course is to introduce church-goers to some of the more prominent and representative contemplative expressions of faith in order to facilitate deeper interreligious understanding and perhaps transform ourseves and our own prayer practices.

Last night the first class met and, while we didn't actually read or pray any prayers yet, it was a wonderful and lively discussion of what prayer and meditation is, the diversity of prayer and contemplation in the various world religions, what mysticism is and its central role in the forming and development of religious traditions, the strengths and weaknesses of language and conceptions, etc.

Anyway, though I've facilitated the class before at other Unity churches, I'm very excited about how this particular incarnation has begun and look forward to the promising fruitful conversation that will come about.

If you happen to be in the central Illinois area come and join us for some stimulating and intriguing discussion and reading of the prayers and meditations of the world's religions. We meet on Wednesday evenings from 7-8:30pm at the Unity Church of Peoria.

Peace.

Common Tables "eLerts"

Common Tables, an organization that promotes and facilitates grassroots-style interfaith dialogue, has come out with a new feature called the "eLert." It's essentially a mass email list that sends people an email notification that brings attention to significant holidays from all the major world religions as they occur, along with a brief explanation.

Sign up for Common Tables' "eLert" here.

The Conservative Bible Project

Through the wonderful blogosphere essay forum, Religion Dispatches, I've been made aware of a particular group of conservative Christians called "The Conservative Bible Project." Interestingly, according to this community (founded by Andy Schlafly, also founder of Conservapedia), apparently the English translations of the Bible have become too liberalized and must be re-written, re-translated, and edited so as to free it from its progressive-liberal bias.

Although most scholars and practitioners alike find this project to be a bit of a joke, I somewhat find this to be a fascinating project. I think it lifts up some very pertinent and significant questions about biblical translation and interpretation and the Bible's relation to politics. As Joseph Laycock and Thomas Fabisiak write in their Oct. 21, 2009 essay in Religion Dispatches, "Is Schlafly a profoundly cynical politician, attempting to manipulate religion in a way that would put Machiavelli and Karl Rove to shame? Or does he truly believe that the Bible has been tainted by 'liberalism' for over a thousand years?" They have a point.

I also share Laycock and Fabisiak's connection of this project to The Jefferson Bible. For those who are unaware, America's 3rd president, Thomas Jefferson, felt that the Bible had been abused, corrupted, and misappropriated by Christians for so many years that he set out on a project where he excised all the supernatural passages out of the New Testament, or those that referred to miracles of some kind. After his cut and paste venture, all that was left was largely those pericope's of Jesus' teachings and parables. The connection to Schlafly is striking. The question becomes, "Is Schlafly attempting a conservative version of the Jeffersonian editing enterprise?"

Probably not exactly. Jefferson's pursuit was totally personal and wasn't published until years later, whereas Schlafly's project is aimed at being very public, political and geared toward dispelling a certain category of infestation -- "the liberal."

Check out Laycock and Fabisiak's essay at Religion Dispatches.

There also a write-up of the project by Rachel Weiner in the Huffington Post.

(Image from Religion Dispatches website; it's a section of the Conservative Bible Project's Bible translation, which translates "Pharisee" as "Liberal.")

Comic Book Bible

Legendary comic book author R. Crumb has put out a comic book version of the book of Genesis. Even though comic books, and R. Crumb's in particular, have largely been considered to be rather irreverent and quick to make jabs, people are saying that this take is rather sensitive to the content of the Bible and not as tasteless as one might expect.

Gabriel Mckee of Religion Dispatches writes a review of the comic, just put out October 19, 2009.

Buddhism's Prominence in America

A friend turned me on to this article at the Buddhist Channel about Buddhism and its place in today's American society and culture. Andrew Lam briefly outlines the roots of Buddhism in the U.S., its development up to now, and its impact and presence in here in the States. All this from his own Buddhist perspective, of course.

It's a concise but intriguing article. Check it out here.

(Image from Buddhist Channel website.)

A Pagan Republican Comes Out of the Broom Closet

Interesting story about New York City councilman, Dan Halloran, is a neo-pagan devotee, practicing the beliefs and rituals of the religion of the early people in Northern Europe. Normally, this wouldn't be too big of a deal or make news, but rather than being associated with the political progressive-liberal parties he's a Republican.

Read the story by Sarah Pike at Religion Dispatches.

Image also from Religion Dispatches.