As I see it, there are basically four different kinds of belief. To be clear, what I mean by “belief” in this context is “opinions about a higher power”. I distinguish between this notion of belief and that of “faith”. The two words are often used interchangeably but the difference is important.
Every human born needs faith to get through their lives – a sense of expectation that things will work out well, sometimes despite the evidence. Call it the spiritual side of confidence. An atheist needs faith as much as the Pope does if only to get out of bed in the morning. The Pope also needs belief, as do many human beings for whom faith is not enough.
Belief #1: An all-powerful God created the universe and everything in it. He has requirements for human beings and will reward or punish us in the afterlife depending on how well we follow those requirements. These requirements have been revealed to my particular organization. Those who do not follow God’s requirements as taught and practiced by my organization are infidels at worst or in the least simply mistaken.
Belief #2: “God” can be considered the life force behind what we perceive as reality. We humans are not capable of fully understanding God but can reach out to him/her/? with our minds and hearts. All religions are attempting as best they can to reach out to and understand God and their beliefs should be respected unless these beliefs inflict harm. Humans can achieve some level of communication with God through private meditation and, if it feels right to the person, through group rituals within formally recognized religions or informal groups of like-minded individuals.
Belief #3: There is no such things as God. The universe evolved from pure energy according to scientifically measurable laws and there is no conscious mind directing it. Those who continue to believe in God are simply subscribing to old myths in order to deny their mortality or, in many cases, to maintain control over their fellow believers.
Belief #4: I don’t know if there is a God or not. Since this has little or no effect on my day-to-day life, I don’t really give it much thought.
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“Belief #1” would cover most of what we call organized religions. Organized religions base their beliefs on what they consider revelations from God to chosen individuals. At its origins, this form of belief was closely tied to and identified with specific tribes, groups or nations and their God’s rules were the foundation for the group’s laws. Originally, there were thought to be multiple Gods, with “our God” being considered superior to the gods of other groups. The early parts of the Bible’s Old Testament reflect this view – the God of the Jews, for instance, was portrayed in the Exodus story as superior to the gods of the Egyptians - and His first commandment forbade the worship of other gods. As monotheism developed, this view evolved into the idea that “There is one God but He favors our group”. In the modern era, most organized religions have adopted the tolerance typical of “Belief #2” towards other religions and see cooperating with each other and sometimes praying together as a positive thing. However, there has been a recent resurgence of strict “Belief #1” in the Muslim world and, ironically, in the United States, whose founders virtually created the idea of religious tolerance.
“Belief #2” is what used to be called “agnostic” but with a definite leaning toward believing in “something out there” without being bound by the doctrines of a specific creed. Unitarianism, New Age activities and non-deistic faiths like Buddhism or Taoism would fall into this category. A general tolerance of the beliefs of others as “fellow seekers” is the general practice in this group. They tend to view an attitude of benevolence and compassion toward all human beings as the correct way to live but are for the most part ready and willing to defend themselves if attacked or treated unfairly. Their countries are seen as governmental entities established to maintain order for the group, with no divine sanction one way or the other.
“Belief #3” is what is usually referred to as atheism. It rejects the idea of God as a foolish and outdated notion. Large political movements like Russian and Chinese Communism adhere to this belief and see religion as a device that was used to keep the oppressive ruling classes in power in earlier times – though they have for the most part replaced the idea of an all-powerful God with the idea of an all-powerful State. These States for the most part do not forbid religious activities as long as it does not interfere with the government. Individual atheists are for the most part tolerant of their believing neighbors – no atheist has ever burned a believer at the stake.
“Belief #4” is a growing faction in the modern world – people who haven’t given the idea of God much thought and don’t much care about it one way or the other. Many of the younger generations in developed Western countries would fall into this group and, along with members of “Belief #2”, are largely responsible for the growing decline in church attendance that has become alarming to the adherents of “Belief #1”. They have not made the “commitment to unbelief” that atheists have. They see no reason to make a commitment one way or the other and take the general attitude “I’m going to die anyway and if there’s something ‘out there’ I’ll find out then – in the meantime what’s for lunch?”.
Any reader who has stuck with me this far will likely have two questions.
1. “This is an interesting intellectual exercise, but why are you bothering with it?”
2. “Where do you stand, Mr. Author? Which of these belief groups do YOU belong to?” In other words, put up or shut up.
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Question #1:
I am bothering with this examination of belief because the issues underlying it are tearing the world apart. Humans need faith. Reality is not enough. When circumstances begin to erode the mythologies that have sustained us, we either become depressed or fight back. When our faith is intermixed with and supported by our beliefs, we will fight all the harder when we see that they are being threatened.
The first dramatic example of this in modern times was 9/11, when Muslim Fundamentalists sacrificed themselves to slam aircraft into buildings they considered symbols of the West’s encroachment on their world. This was as much a religious act as a political act if not more so. Since then, after a series of wars in which Western counties unsuccessfully attempted to help more modern thinking Muslims gain control of their countries, conservative groups like the Taliban have pushed these countries back to Sharia Law with requirements, especially for women, consistent with the practices of long gone centuries.
In a surprisingly related trend, the recent American election was heavily influenced by religious groups who saw the decline in church attendance and widespread tolerance for sexual and gender choices as a threat to their version of “The American Way of Life” and “God’s law”.
In a throwback to the book of Exodus, the conflict between Israel and its Muslim neighbors that is causing death and destruction in Gaza is partly one of religious differences, since both sides are members of the semitic race. The notion “My God is stronger than your God” is alive and as dangerous as ever in the 21st century.
Since I began writing this piece, the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has paid out over $800 million to settle claims of child sexual abuse to over 1,300 surviving victims. The Archbishop of Canterbury has resigned due to fallout from a sex scandal as well. Speaking of England, less than half the residents of Great Britain actually belong to the official “Church of England”, with regular church attendance down to less than 3% of the population.
Overall, the sense of an all-powerful God overseeing our activities is fading into the past. Secular reality and our political leaders are doing a damn sad job of replacing it. We are overwhelmed with information and offered few ways to make any sense out of it all or to influence events that effect our lives.
We are badly in need of FAITH - we meaning all of us. In many ways, our faith is our identity. Without it, our sense of who we are and who we stand with can get very blurry. At this moment, half the United States dislikes and is afraid of the other half and the feeling goes both ways. And “God help us!” is a call without a phone number.
So now what?
Question #2 (Put up or shut up):
For the first 21 years of my life, I was a fully committed member of the “Belief #1” group. I was a devout Catholic and had planned to spend my life as a missionary priest, bringing the Gospel to people in far off countries who had not yet heard the good news. During the many years since, I have moved back and forth between the other Belief options outlined at the start of this piece. At this point, I find myself in the only camp that seems to hold out some hope of talking our species out of destroying itself in the near future. That would be “Belief #2”, with a few variations. My reasons:
#1 “Our God is Better than Your God” has caused a great deal of war and oppression throughout history and has fueled the tribal conflicts that still divide us. God doesn’t really take sides.
#3 “Atheism” has little to contribute except that they disagree with what the churches are preaching – but thinking we can get out of this mess all by ourselves is not supported by the evidence.
And #4 “Not caring one way or the other” isn’t a sensible option when you’re drowning.
Which leaves us with #2 – the sense that there’s more going on here than meets the eye and that we’re part of something bigger than us that can go either well or badly depending how we interact with it.
A while back, I wrote a piece on “The obvious will of God” which noted that all things in the universe, including the universe itself, are in a constant process of coming into being, growing and thriving for a time, then fading away, passing on their energy and whatever’s left of their matter to fuel the next go-round. Making peace with that reality (as opposed to trying to cheat your way out of it) is one of the strong points of Belief#2. There is a consciousness bigger than us in which we can share and participate once we drop our real and symbolic swords and start working with it. Simply put, there’s a world of difference between “prayer to” and “prayer with”.
There are no guarantees in this approach, no firm rules or favored groups. Just us, all of us. And whatever it is that put us here. Getting in touch with it means getting in touch with US. The vast majority of species that have inhabited our little piece of rock are long extinct. How soon we’ll join them is pretty much in our own hands, barring a really big meteor.
The good news is that the same faith that held up our beliefs is still with us, with or without them. We’re not going it alone. We’ve got something brimming under the surface that’s got a GPS with no satellites needed. Reading it’s the trick. It requires what they used to call it a “Leap of Faith”. A few years back I found another name for it, or you might say it found me, a name that suggested that the only way to win this gamble is to cheat our way to the truth – the Holy Bluff.
More to come.
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