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The World Needs a Secular Community Revolution

evolution-institute.org

11–20 of 183 posts

Re: The World Needs a Secular Community Revolution

#11

Boy, that list looks pretty similar to the principles of Unitarian Universalism (full disclosure, born and raised). The suggestions are good but if we look at the history of the Unitarian Universalism it was heralded by various scholars as the secular religion for the coming enlightened future. None of that has happened and the fastest growing religious communities these days are fundamentalist, evangelical Christian…

There are other like Secular Humanism and Ethical Culture. None of them really took off.

Re: The World Needs a Secular Community Revolution

#13
post #10
post #4

I wonder if an "organized secularism" would only copy some the problems found in organized religion. Do people become less religious only because of a rejection of the supernatural, or for other reasons as well? I think some people become less religious for two additional reasons as well: "shared values" and "rituals." A set of shared values is nice until it fails to change in response to changes in the values of ind…

I think what makes most religions so inflexible is having a canon which can be difficult to circumvent. If a secular order is based on the opinions of the founders who are treated as wise humans instead of divine, it becomes easier to accept that they could be wrong or just misinformed.

"Herding cats"

Re: The World Needs a Secular Community Revolution

#16
post #5

What we "need" is for people to worship Jesus Christ and get their butts to church.

This need to be worshipped is what I found to be the most bizarre characteristic of deities. Seriously, why would someone who can create space, time, universe and everything care the slightest bit about whether or not a bunch of Homo sapiens perform all these weird acts that worshipping entails? Too needy.

Re: The World Needs a Secular Community Revolution

#17

> Ritualize No thanks. This is the first thing I started to dislike about being raised Catholic, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I think he meant more along the lines of "having a wedding" or "having a funeral" than "sacrificing a cow" (but pardon my ignorance of Catholic rituals).

Re: The World Needs a Secular Community Revolution

#18
Eh, I always want one of these secular communities to take off and flourish but they never seem to.

Possibly the principals of "think for yourself", "relative and perspective", "freedom of association" are antithetical to these kind tight knit groups. It's a shame in some ways and definitely more lonely. But, looking at the types of people some more radical religions attract, possibly lonely is the better option.

In the meantime, if we really need a community support group without the superstition and hoopla, I guess there is always the possibility of joining a street gang....

Re: The World Needs a Secular Community Revolution

#19
post #4

I wonder if an "organized secularism" would only copy some the problems found in organized religion. Do people become less religious only because of a rejection of the supernatural, or for other reasons as well? I think some people become less religious for two additional reasons as well: "shared values" and "rituals." A set of shared values is nice until it fails to change in response to changes in the values of ind…

This is true, although I suspect that the reluctance to change the set of values in traditional religions may have a lot to do with subconsciously (or consciously) fearing supernatural retribution. e.g. God will punish you for being sinful. In principle, this shouldn't be a problem for a secular community that does not accept the notion of a supernatural governing force.

Re: The World Needs a Secular Community Revolution

#20
post #4

I wonder if an "organized secularism" would only copy some the problems found in organized religion. Do people become less religious only because of a rejection of the supernatural, or for other reasons as well? I think some people become less religious for two additional reasons as well: "shared values" and "rituals." A set of shared values is nice until it fails to change in response to changes in the values of ind…

You only have to look at half the discussions on HN to know that humans are still very religious about subjects despite the rejection of the supernatural. We joke about language or editor wars being "religious", but really, that same thought process exists.

On the same topic, but contrary to what you are saying, organized secularism with rituals, values, expectations may only draw out this natural propensity towards "religion" in people even further.

Touching on your point further, Protestant churches actually fare pretty well with some of these cultural issues that force change. If someone disagrees about gay marriage or another controversial topic, they just start a new church and half the congregation goes there. It makes Protestant churches at the same time possibly more extreme but also much more varied in their belief systems and allows for religion to evolve. (This is not an endorsement of Protestantism, just an acknowledgement).

I dislike the notion of organized secularism because it creates an us vs them attitude. You have churches and then secular churches when the real solution (whatever it may be) should be a less dogmatic form of outreach that grabs at people from all walks of life and engages them. That's how people change, that's how they get better.

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