The Church Of The Numinous

Saturday

What fine visit I had with my friend Bobby. As always, he brightened my day and made me feel so much better. We lunched at one of our favorite spots, the Ono Hawaiian Barbecue.

On the way back home, Bobby and I were talking. He pointed out that it seemed as if something, a sense of community, a sense of belonging to something greater, was difficult to find in the skeptical world. I noted that the Church of Satan presents itself as a church for atheists but it’s really more about being an in-your-face answer to Christian fanatics. That’s not a bad reason to have a church, but it’s not what I would consider the best reason.

I said atheists should have a church, and he and I should found one. We talked about it for a while, partly joking and partly serious. I observed that Einstein loved the numinous, though he certainly didn’t believe in any kind of God to whom you could pray or who was an actual person with a personality. Wouldn’t it be possible, I asked, for humanists and skeptics to identify and revere such concepts as morality, a sense of purpose, the numinous, and our mutual humanity?

Bobby noted that Nietzsche was identifying our loss of God as a symptom he was describing, not as a desirable thing. In fact, the philosopher felt that this loss had seriously harmed humanity. I noted that was something that Christian extremists simply do not understand about Nietzsche. They think he wanted to kill God when he was actually mourning His loss. Bobby went on to note that we humans endow things with sacredness. I liked that, and asked him why we couldn’t endow things with sacredness without God necessarily being part of the process? Isn’t that what humanism is about? Can’t we control that as we control so much of our spiritual, emotional, and personal lives?

In the end we decided we just had to found a genuine, actual church for atheists. It would be up to members of the church to endow it and its principles (no room for infallibility or doctrine, sorry) with sacredness. Then the question became, what should we name it? I proposed that he and I should both become the Prophets of Probability, since the universe is probablistic from the humanist-athheist view point. He liked that idea and then added that we should be the Non-prophets of Probability. I think Bobby and I make a great team.

In all seriousness, I think atheists and humanists should do exactly this. We humans can and should endow certain principles with sacredness. Traditionally that term is utilized for that which is created by or dedicated to a god or gods, but the humanist in me doesn’t see why we humans can’t take Bobby’s advice and endow sacredness by ourselves.

During the conversation I did say to Bobby that such a church should be able to include theists like me; one who was always a born skeptic and a dyed in the wool believer, one who dislikes the rigidity of doctrine and the tendency toward fanaticism and mindless faith inherent in organized religion, yet who finds himself divided between rationality and mysticism

That’s a church I could believe in completely. Among the principles which I would endow with sacredness are tolerance, the unity of all mankind, the sense of the numinous as we gaze upon the world and universe about us, and a deep dedication to seeking rational solutions to the problems of the world.

Everyone would welcome to join If they adhere to these principles, but because of the sacredness of those principles; the intolerant, the irrational, the angry, and the arrogant would be excluded, not because we think of ourselves as superior, but because we see our principles as genuinely sacred and they do not.

Also: Our church symbol could be the lazy eight or symbol for infinity, but made with a Mobius strip.
Without the Mobius element, the symbol has been used since ancient times. It symbolizes infinity, of course. It also means something everlasting, the worm Ouroboros with its head biting its own tail, enduring love, and more. The Internet adds that, >Arabic artists used it to represent eternity, wholeness, and completion.<
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs authorizes the symbol as one which is acceptable on veterans headstones, but does not identify it as associated with any particular religion, merely stating that it represents “infinity”.

A few suggestions as to the “structure“ of the church:

The Framework

Doctrine: None
Hierarchy: None
Sacred Items: Our Principles
Diety: Optional
Authority: The Self
Philosophy: Skeptical Rationalism
Inspiration: The Numinous
Beliefs: Personal and subjective

The Sacred Principles

* Tolerance
* The unity of all mankind
* The sense of the numinous as we contemplate the world and universe about us
* A deep dedication to seeking rational solutions to the problems of the world
* Non evangelicalism
* We are part of the universe, seeking to know itself
* Sentient beings should not be made or allowed to suffer
* Each sapient being’s experience is personal and subjective within the framework of the objective universe

Another principle of the church (though unofficial and perhaps even a personal addendum of my own) which I suggest we should endow with sacredness is one of my top five most favorite quotes of all time. The original quote referred to what happens when humans attempt to understand the nature of God, but one could easily extend it to what happens when one tries to understand this vast universe of which we are a part. “A dog might as well contemplate the mind of Newton. Let each man hope and believe what he can.” —Charles Darwin

Finally, I decree (with approximate infallibility) that I shall be the non-Pope in the West and Bobby the non-Patriarch of the Eastern Church.
Sounds good to me. Is that O.K., Your All non-Holiness?
(Remember, I only get to be His non-Holiness. You also get the All.)

More coming?