Greater Pittsburgh Association of Deists and Agnostics April Meeting

For April, we will discuss an article Suzanne suggested on the Christian humanist site called "Christianity without God."

http://christianhuman...

I find the article, and the idea of Christian humanism in general, to be very interesting. I think that exploring Jesus' life and his example of standing up for the oppressed, and valuing kindness and forgiveness over anger, violence, and judgment is useful if we can separate those things from the 2,000 years of hypocrisy that have distorted and contradicted these teachings.

It seems that this type of thing happens with most organized religion--the message of the founder or significant religious figures becomes significantly changed and abused by the institutions that base themselves on these people. And while I do not think that one needs to focus on Christianity or any particular religion, we have talked about how ritual and religious community can be beneficial. I believe that one can be an atheist or agnostic and still be spiritual, and that there are important things that are a part of religion that are being left out by modern freethinkers.

I am interested in your thoughts on these issues. Can we base our lives on the models of religious figures while still embracing a secular, skeptical, freethinking worldview? Can we, and should we, develop a notion of "secular spirituality," something that doesn't have to be limited by metaphysical speculation and dogma, but which brings together rationality and reason with the abstract, the intangible, the mysteries of existence that affect us even if we can't explain them?

--Andrew