If one were strictly listen to a number of renowned intellectuals who decry the ignorance of those who claim to be theists, one might feel ashamed for having any beliefs that include the existence of an unknown, out-there-other that got everything we know as the universe going, including ourselves and that actually gives a damn about what's going on, including one's own small and, relatively speaking, insignificant life.
It's a stretch, isn't it?
But it's a stretch we humans have been doing since the dawn of our species. I have talked about the emergence of theism in past posts (See Religion and Religious Intuition) so I won't bother with that here.
If my definition of religion is broad, so too is my definition of theism. Any ideological belief that addresses the issue of an out-there-other is included in my definition of theistic religion. As such, the term, "God" would only be considered an indicator of theism, not it's full definition. Atheists, in their belief that there is no God, are, by their ideological denial of a out-there-other, theists.
Those who believe in spiritualism, a higher power, or who have their doubts about such things are theists because they have an interest in that field. In other words, there are relatively few, within the parameter of this definition, who would not be considered theists of some sort. This is not said to offend those who deny a belief in a god or a higher power, but rather to emphasize the fact that denial of a belief is necessarily premised on the belief being denied. In fact, it would appear that believing something is much easier than not believing something, since to deny a premise requires its acknowledgement, it's existence, and then, through a rational process, work out why such a premise is false. It's a matter of math. It's far easier to add than to take away.
Theism appears engrained in us at some level. I recently heard Richard Dawkins admit on a TV program to singing Christmas carols during the Christmas season even though he is an ardent atheist. I believe he admitted to being a cultural Christian, which I was glad to hear him say because it was honest and took nothing away from his being an atheist.
OMNIPRESENCE
The point being is that theism is everywhere. It is engrained in us culturally and socially, if not genetically. To not believe something others believe in requires an exercised reason. It seems to me that people are, for the most part, ready to believe something or believe in something without much reasoning. Sincere skepticism requires far more thought than a ready credibility.
Beliefs can be altered over time. They can evolve into near fact or they become memetic, almost genetic. As I have alluded to in a past post, theistic religion is culturally engrained into every society that even where ardent secular governments actively attempt to systemically eradicate its presence through harassment or persecution they ultimately fail in such endeavors. Historically speaking, persecutions of a theistc religion have resulted in strengthening that religion.
ENDURANCE
With the emergence of secular religion during the Enlightenment, reason was presented as an antidote to faith. Ironically, both secularists and most theists have wrongfully equated faith with belief. An easy mistake to make since our understanding of faith and belief, both in secular and theistic religion, is based on its association with the Greek word pistis, which is used to connote both, depending on contextual usage.
During the enlightenment brilliant men saw theism as a block to the light of pure reason. As such, there were those who actively sought to end the out-there-other concept of God and replace it by epitomizing human reasons which was sometimes depicted as a metaphorical goddess representing wisdom or reason.
Ironically, the Enlightenment sparked a theistic revival in western Europe and the newly formed United States. Yet the notion that theistic religion was an opiate used by powerful churches and the royalty to garner power and hold the vast majority of people enthralled, would reach its height during and after the First World war, when communism and other national socialisms actively took control of everything. In Russia, churches were simply closed and religious practices stopped. Theists were actively persecuted.
After more than seventy years of suppression, Russian Orthodoxy sprung to life with the abolition of the Soviet Union. Systemic persecution of a belief system, no matter how far fetched it may be, that poses no direct threat to others will attract adherents. Something that requires suppression reveals the power of whatever is being suppressed. Someone killed for being faithful to their beliefs makes those beliefs very powerful.
A TWIST OF TERMS
This understanding has gained some relevance today. Terms like martyrdom and persecution have become catch phrases by those who feel that their theologies are being encroached upon by godless secularism. The appeal to the notion of martyrdom has enjoyed a comeback by Islamic terrorists who have given its meaning a new twist, someone who is willing to blow themselves up to kill and create havoc on others.
In the United States the recent Supreme Court's decision to permit same-sex marriage has led some fundamentalists Christians to declare that they feel Christians are being persecuted. The response of some of them is to advocate the execution of all homosexuals. There is no small amount of irony in in martyrs who martyr others or in the persecuted who advocate the martyrdom and persecution of others.
POWER
As mentioned in my last post, religion is about power: the appeal to power, the generation of power, and use of power. In theism the generation of power is not derived from people, per se, but is or was understood as bestowed by an out-there-other, derived from spiritual discipline, or derived from acts of kindness. Power in theism in more about the force of influence than the force of aggression, but that wasn't always the case.
There has been a slow transition, in my opinion, from power bestowed for aggressive purposes in ages before the Axial period to understanding the power of shaping ideas since that time. To be truthful this has not be a smooth transition. Power as control is still alive in theism, but as there is an increasing divide between secular and theistic religion, the use of power for aggressive purposes is diminishing as power exercised for aggressive purposes is mostly a matter of secular religion.
DIFFERNTIATING PARADIM
That organized theism of churches, mosques, and temples exercise power in the sense that power is appealed to, generated, and used in the same manner as in the secular religious world is simply the fact that theistic institutions that do so are functioning as secularists rather than theists. There has always been a struggle between these two religious views regarding the right appeal, generation and use of power. To borrow from Christian theology some two thousand years ago, there is the concept of being in the world but not of the world. This is largely in reference to use of power or how to see power. The notion of being in the world, but not of the world is to see power differently. Christianity, for the most part, has never been able to fully put into practice this central tenant, but its existence demonstrates the differentiating paradigm of religion at work which helped create the idea of secular and theistic world view.
Theocracies
Theocracies have nothing to do with theism. Their appeal to power is based on a time when the differentiation between what is secular and theistic did not exist. The Holy Bible is a good example of this. While Christian churches, for example, are quick to say after any reading of scripture in a liturgically orientated worship service, "The word of the Lord," quite often what they read is more a historical account of the secular practices or mindset of a bygone era in which the secularism clearly exhibited (the reasoned and rational approach to some problem that required a strategy of some kind) is attributed to a miraculous intervention by God. If you read these accounts closely, there are other explanations for the so-called miraculous, especially when it comes to military conquests or some type of strategic engagement.
Theocracies are largely anachronistic. Their appeal to some religious fundamentalists and zealots is a cover for what is truly being sought, secular power, the power over others that is not derived from the other, but rather usurped as being bestowed by God. This is no longer a tenable position for a theist to take.
GETTING BACK TO BASICS
I find it interesting that Pope Francis, the head of what is both a secular and theistic religious institution, at a recent meeting with Italian bishops condemned the secular use of power rampant in the Italian church. His appeal to a power that is not fearful of poverty or dealing with the oppressed and the suppressed, at getting down and dirty in the work of changing the hearts and minds of the faithful in his own church is attempt to restore a theistic understanding of the role of power which is in keeping with the central teachings of Christianity; a power that is meant to influence and change the hearts of people, to be more compassionate, more caring, to see oneself in the other.
The ultimate use of power in theism, of any kind or type of theism, is to not only treat the other as one's self but to see the other as one's self.
THE PROPHETIC VOICE
Theistic religion maintains the prophetic voice - the Self that observes the self. Whether one believes in the out-there-other, or who believes in the interconnectedness of all living things, or sees one's self and the world being part of something greater than the sum of all things past, present, and yet to come, there is a sense of belonging that transcends mere belief and ideology. Theism addresses the personal questions of who am I and why am I on a personal and universal level. This is largely an intuition - a sensed feeling that almost every person has at some level or another. That it may have a scientific explanation or a philosophical one does not minimize its importance. It makes us the caring and compassionate beings we can be or become. It drives us to vigilance in what we do and how behave. It points out to us the ignored obvious that is so often the hallmark of secular religion in its frequent overt reasoning and rationalizing way.
THE ART OF LIVING
Most importantly, theism opens us to the art of living, to the visual arts, to the literary arts, to music, dance, to culinary arts, to the creative activities that deepen meaning and give us joy and moments to ponder our own humanity.
Worship should always be an artful event and art is always an act of worship.
When I enter an art museum, I enter into a temple. On a recent visit to Modern Museum of Art in New York City, I could not help but observe the people standing in awed silence before Van Gogh's Starry Night. It was if there was incense and candles light burning somewhere, so heavy was the sense and scent of awe being exhibited by those and myself standing in front of this inspiring work of art.
Both secularism and theism is needed in our world. I do not see them as being diametrically opposed, but that each needs the other to form the grist of progress on a personal and social level. Each informs the other in necessary ways.
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In my next post, I will provide some thoughts on the topic of the "nones" - that group of unaffiliated theists whose numbers are growing and what this movement away from traditional theism possibly means.
Until then, stay faithful.
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