Sea of Faith in Australia
Brisbane Chermside Group
The Chermside SoF group meets monthly at 7.30pm on the fourth Monday of each month. The venue is ‘Chatters Coffee Shop’ at the Chermside-Kedron Community Church (UC) in Brisbane.
Contacts: John Carr (3354 3579) & Scott McKenzie (3300 2423)
Notes from 2010: April June August
Openly exploring issues of religion and faith.
Meeting of 26 July: John Carr, “The Values Vacuum: Pragmatism Rules, OK?”
This session began with a brief review of the recent abortive attempts to develop a new preamble to the Australian Constitution. These attempts were widely derided and there appeared to be no chance that agreement could be reached on the values that underpin Australian society. This failure exemplifies the problem of getting any wide agreement on values in a post-Christian, pluralist, liberal democracy, a problem that is less evident in societies where one religion, or branch of a religion, is dominant. In such societies, values are seen to come from a god, gods or sacred scriptures. Debate may be permissible on interpretations and emphases, but not on the absolute authority of the sacred source and its right to unquestioning obedience.
The public documents of two sets of current non-government organisations were then examined, a number that are explicitly Christian and others that are secular. The eight Christian organisations, all presently active in
As might be expected, the documents of the twelve secular organisations analysed make no reference to any divine source of justification. Nor, usually, do they invoke any other deep philosophical beliefs. Amnesty International refers to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Oxfam to ‘human rights’. The nearest that the majority come to an explicit rationale is the identification of a ‘self-evident’ societal need and this leads directly to the proposed action program. This urgent need exists, they say, so they will undertake this program to address it. Pragmatism rules! The Australian charity, the Smith Family, illustrates this pattern very well.
‘Rationale’: No one would deny that children are Australia’s future, yet right now one in seven Australian children are living in disadvantage and do not have access to the same educational, health or life opportunities that many of us enjoy and take for granted.
‘Main Objective’: To help disadvantaged children
‘Values’: Mainly implicit, but explicitly caring, enterprise, love, relationships, responsibility
Across the eight Christian and twelve secular bodies, there was in fact a great commonality of values. Ones found only in the secular list include empowerment, fairness, positivity, protection, sustainability and truth. The secular bodies present their agendas as evidence-based, so that their commitment to ‘truth’ and reason is also evident in strategies and activities like research, data-collection and raising awareness.
In reflecting on the 20 NGOs, on a number of post-World War 2 national constitutions and on the United Nations Declaration and Conventions, John argued that a post-religion ethical consensus appears to have been reached in the West. This draws pragmatically on a range of religious and philosophical ethical systems, especially the Judeo-Christian and Enlightenment systems, albeit at an implicit level. Do the implicitness, pragmatism and ad-hocery matter? At the day-to-day level, these are probably advantageous: they avoid dispute, enable quick response and can be very effective. In the long term and at national and international levels, however, there are dangers: implicit values can still clash; dumbed-down public debate is deleterious to democracies; and secular values, left unexamined, can ossify just as much as religious ones.
Meeting of 23 August: Rev Dr Greg Jenks, “The Selection of the Texts in the New Testament”
This will be a sequel to Greg’s presentation at our February meeting on the emergence of the written Gospels. Here the focus will move from the first century CE to the second and third centuries, as diverse individuals and groups in the
Advance notices
Topics for later meetings in 2010
· 27 September: Ethics without God (Issues arising from the 2010 National Conference)
· 25 October: Faith Formation and Community (Rev Jan Crombie)
· 22 November: Spirituality and the Arts (2011 SEQ Conference theme)
Crossan in Australia Eminent Biblical scholar, John Dominic Crossan, will deliver a series of ten lectures in
National SoFiA Conference, “Ethics without God: Exploring a secular basis for our ethics”, Alexandra Headland Uniting Church Conference Centre, 17 – 19 September 2010 Keynote speakers will be Sir Lloyd Geering, “The Changing Moral Imperative: From gods to God to Gaia”; Dr Neville Symington, “What is Ethically ‘Natural’ for humans?”; and Dr Gail Tulloch, “Two Approaches to a Secular Ethic: Singer and Sartre”.
SEQ Conference 2011, to be organised by Brisbane-Chermside Group. The tentative working title is “Spirituality and the Arts: Head, Heart and Soul”. The arts have long been used in everyday life, in social rituals and in religious liturgies, and works of art have even been the object of veneration and worship. For some people, Art is their religion. Painting, architecture, sculpture, literature, music, drama, dance – whatever the art-forms that move you, we hope you will start to ask yourself, “Why is it so?” Suggestions for themes, strands, events, venues and speakers would be welcome!
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In his book Godless Morality: Keeping Religion out of Ethics (1999), Bishop Richard Holloway distinguishes between sin and immorality. Sin, he says, ‘is essentially a religious idea’. Morality and immorality, on the other hand, depend on ‘observed consequences, not on beliefs, superstitions or preferences’. This distinction is later extended to the difference between priests and prophets:
(Priests are)those who sanctify and defend what the community has heard God say in the past, while prophets are those who challenge the community to hear the new word God is saying in the present.
Jesus was a prophet, not a priest.
Meeting of 24 May, Peter Bore and Scott McKenzie: Karen Armstrong’s The Case for God
Peter Bore, President of SoFiA, had reviewed Karen Armstrong’s latest best-seller, The Case for God, in the April edition of the SoFiA Bulletin and Scott McKenzie had prepared a summary of the same book. These two documents formed the basis for a discussion by members of the main points that Karen Armstrong makes.
Some points made:
1. The Greek pistis translated into Latin credo and then English belief really meant at the time, hold dear, trust in, have confidence in, rather than accept as a fact.
2. Prior to the Scientific Revolution (c. 1600+) stories in the Bible were largely regarded as ‘stories’, or myths, and what the story demonstrated was the point not the ‘facts’ of the story. As a result of the rise of science the notion of ‘truth’ came more to the fore.
3. Engaging in worship was more about experiencing and less about believing (in our meaning of the word).
4. The move among Progressives is to return to experiencing rather than committing to the truth of propositions.
Meeting of 28 June, Discussion of Gretta Vosper, With or Without God: Why the way we live is more important than what we believe, Chapter 5
At this meeting we shall discuss Chapter 5, “Reconstructing Christianity”, of Gretta Vosper’s book, With or Without God. See the two-page summary prepared by Scott McKenzie attached. The ideas Gretta Vosper is writing about are quite familiar to most of us, and are quite challenging. We hope to generate a lively and worthwhile discussion.
Advance notices
· Meeting of 25 July: John Carr, “The Values Vacuum: Pragmatism Rules, OK?”
In this session, John will argue that there is a values vacuum in many national constitutions, bills of rights and the philosophies of major non-government organisations. Members will be invited to bring information about organisations with which they are associated as a basis for discussion.
· Topics for later meetings in 2010
The Writing of the Gospels Part II (Rev Dr Greg Jenks)
Ethics without God (2010 National Conference theme)
Faith Formation and Community (Rev Jan Crombie)
The Arts and Religion (2011 SEQ Conference theme)
· National SoFiA Conference, “Ethics without God: Exploring a secular basis for our ethics”,
Keynote speakers will be Sir Lloyd Geering, “The Changing Moral Imperative: From gods to God to Gaia”; Dr Neville Symington; and Dr Gail Tulloch, “Two Approaches to a Secular Ethic: Singer and Sartre”.
· SEQ Conference 2011, to be organised by Brisbane-Chermside Group. The tentative working title is “Spirituality and the Arts: Head, Heart and Soul”. The arts have long been used in everyday life, in social rituals and in religious liturgies, and works of art have even been the object of veneration and worship. For some people, Art is their religion. Painting, architecture, sculpture, literature, music, drama, dance – whatever the art-forms that move you, we hope you will start to ask yourself, “Why is it so?” Suggestions for themes, strands, events, venues and speakers would be welcome!
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Pushing religion out of the public sphere in the name of rationality, (Marilynne Robinson) insists, has had the effect of giving more room to world-views that trivialise or demean the ‘felt life’ of the human consciousness – the complexity, the liberty, the innovative capacity (and the self-delusional temptations) of mind as we experience it. She is not alone in implying that without the transcendent we shall find ourselves unable, sooner or later, to make any sense of the full range of human self-awareness.
Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, in his review of Marilynne Robinson’s Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self
Meeting of 22 March, Alex Stewart: Atheism
From this presentation, Alex Stewart, the Assistant Organiser of Brisbane Atheists, appears to have much in common with many
Given the subject of this year’s National Conference, Alex had been particularly asked to talk about the source of atheists’ morality. He traced the emergence of a natural morality to the evolution of homo sapiens. This began with our upright bipedalism, the extension of human infancy, the resultant need for long parental care and the development of the extended family and the tribe, where social co-operation is essential for group survival.
We were generally able to follow his reasons for not believing in God. We SoFers like to think we are at least scientifically literate, so we needed no convincing of the facts of deep space, geological time or evolution by natural selection. However, when Alex moved to ‘prove’ the natural creation of the universe by reference to quantum physics, we found his explanations and whiteboard drawing as incomprehensible and/or unconvincing as Aquinas’s ‘proofs of God’, Bishop Ussher’s timeline or Kevin’s Carbon Trading Scheme. Clearly, the Hawkings and Dawkings of the scientific world need to upgrade their communication skills. Or try to find a parallel universe that is not so far beyond our ken. Why did St Douglas Adams die so young? ‘Forty-two’ we can understand!
Meeting of 26 April, James Mitchell and Helen Jeays: The
James and Helen will speak about their non-theistic church, which meets fortnightly in Annerley. Unitarian Universalists (UUs) have liberal and diverse spiritual values with a common concern for social justice and the welfare of our planet. Their services feature hymn singing, a candle-lighting ceremony, short talks and affirmations in what is called ‘worship’. Unitarianism has a centuries-long history throughout the world. One aspect that distinguishes Unitarian Universalist from other religious or spiritual groups is that it is not a denomination that prescribes what we should believe. Rather, it focuses on how we should behave, with freedom, reason, compassion and tolerance. See the group’s very good website at: www.brisbaneuu.org.au.
Advance notices
- Meeting of 24 May, Peter Bore: Karen Armstrong’s The Case for God
Peter Bore, President of SoFiA, reviewed Karen Armstrong’s latest best-seller, The Case for God, in the April edition of the SoFiA Bulletin. We will discuss the main points of this book using Peter’s review and a summary prepared by Scott McKenzie. Peter will be at the meeting to explain his take on what Karen Armstrong has to say. We’ll be happy to hear from any other membes of the group who have read the book and will invite all present to join in the discussions. We shall attach copies of Peter’s review and Scott’s summary to the May Chermside Notes.
- Topics for later meetings in 2010
The Writing of the Gospels Part II (Rev Dr Greg Jenks)
Ethics without God (2010 National Conference theme)
Faith Formation and Community (Rev Jan Crombie)
The Arts and Religion (2011 SEQ Conference theme)
- Gretta Vosper Visit, 1 – 2 May
Following her participation in the Common Dreams Conference currently on in Melbourne, Canadian author Gretta Vosper will be speaking in
· National SoFiA Conference
“Ethics without God: Exploring a secular basis for our ethics”, Alexandra Headland Uniting Church Conference Centre, 17 – 19 September 2010 Keynote speakers will be Lloyd Geering, Neville Symington and Gail Tulloch. Keep the weekend free! Registration details were sent out with the April SoFiA Bulletin.
· SEQ Conference 2011, to be organised by Brisbane-Chermside Group. The tentative working title is “Head, Heart and Soul: Religion, Spirituality and the Arts”. The arts have long been used in everyday life, in social rituals and in religious liturgies, and works of art have even been the object of veneration and worship. For some people, Art is their religion. Painting, architecture, sculpture, literature, music, drama, dance – whatever the art-forms that move you, we hope you will start to ask yourself, “Why is it so?” Suggestions for themes, strands, events, venues and speakers would be welcome!
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Pope Benedict is an amazingly vision
