How religion has helped me

[DrZoidberg]

Some background. In 2012 me and a couple of atheist friends had this idea that perhaps religion wasn't all bad. We all lived in Sweden, a country where religion was dead today. None of us had the first idea of what religion was. I personally have always had a fascination of religion. Much like people are fascinated of stuff like transvestites. It was always something impenetrable and mysterious. Religious people seemed very enthusiastic about religioning, but I wasn't sure it was they did, and they seemed incapable of explaining to me, in a coherent way, what they did.

My theory of human motivation is that humans are emotionally motivated. We do things because they feel good, (or we're mitigating a fear, in order to feel good). I use this as a model for understanding the human world. I had trouble to understand what the religious pay-off was. In what way did religion help the member.

So we thought, let's just do this. Let's start an atheistic religion and see if it works. Let's create a smorgasbord religion where we pick and mix from existing religions and we'll see what works (if it works). So we did. We created Syntheism. I also should point out that we're not the first atheistic religion, and we're likely to not be the last.

Along the way I've stopped to reflect and I've made a couple of posts on this before here. It's been almost five years now, so time for some reflection again.

Here's one reflection. Sacredness and sacred spaces. I work in a high stress job, and I've had a couple of disasters the last couple of years. High stress work and high stress personal life hasn't been a particularly good combination.

A year and half ago we built a church in Stockholm (I've since moved from there). But it was really nice to enter the church. Every time I did I entered a much more relaxed head-space. I had nothing to prove. I became an much more open and relaxed person. In my day job I'm a manager. So my personality is typically to always be in control. In the church I had no control. I just flowed along and listed to people.

I should also say that from being a small group of friends we've now got thousands of members spanning several countries and many cities. So it's obviously struck a chord, and people are into this. As a result of spreading overseas we nowadays have plenty of members who seem to be theists. They just identify with not being theists for reasons that I have yet to figure out.

So that's a way that religion "works". This is tangible and practical and scientifically measurable.

Same goes for having sacred bells, music, smells or sacred places in your home. We can load up and link, pretty much anything, with any emotion. Everything we use in the church has now been associated with that head-space. I enter into it now in an instant, anywhere. Which I think is super-cool. It's given me a control of my brain (ie ability to manipulate emotions) in ways that I didn't know was possible. As a result I'm much better at winding down and relaxing.

Then there's also the issue of spirituality. I get it now. I get what people mean when they talk about spirituality. I consider Syntheism a spiritual practice. Doesn't need God or any belief in anything supernatural. That's to way over-think it. It's like the feeling where you're one with everything. It's just a feeling, and it's awesome. Super easy for me to put myself in that head-space now. Insta-relaxation.

I used to drink regularly. Several times a week and most weekends. Today I'm mostly sober. I can't even remember last time I had anything to drink (or took a drug). It's not because I've tried not to. It's just happened. I attribute this to me religioning. There's more. I used to use a lot of my time to occupy the mind. Entertain myself. In hind-sight I was just trying to distract myself away from feeling unpleasant thoughts. My spiritual practice has mellowed me out a lot. I'm so much better now at using my time more wisely and focusing on the stuff that actually acts to enrich my life. Which is personal relationships and painting. Yes, I've picked up painting. I'm pretty good at it now.

No, I don't need Syntheism. But the community is necessary. I think we're social beings. I think we need others to be able to create a spiritual practice. And then it helps to be organised, and that's why religions are helpful.

My going theory now is that God used to be the symbol around which spiritual groups gathered, and over time God was imbued with all kinds of redundant and magical qualities, and was made the thing which united people (even though it wasn't). But God isn't necessary for religion and IMHO adds nothing. Better to just skip it. Like we have.

Anyhoo... I think it's interesting. It can explain what churches are for. It can explain what rituals are for. It can explain what praying is for. It can explain and justify pretty much anything in any religion except the belief in God part. And the best part is that it's all concrete, real and measurable. Oh, yeah. We also don't have priests or church leaders. All our gatherings and functions are self-organised. We call it a do-ocracy. If you want something just do it. Organise it yourself and go for it. The church is huge, so there's still plenty of space to accomodate whatever. In other cities we've chosen to use other communal spaces. But Copenhagen is getting their own church soon.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Sounds like a good idea. We'll need to give it a name to indicate how we're using it to unite people together. Maybe we should call it something like Unitarianism?

 

[DrZoidberg]

Sounds like a good idea. We'll need to give it a name to indicate how we're using it to unite people together. Maybe we should call it something like Unitarianism?

That name is already taken by a theistic group. So to avoid confusion it's probably better to call it something else.

 

[Horatio Parker]

You might find this lecture interesting. It's called the "religion of no religion".

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tFOaCve13DI

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

So, "no religion" can be religion. Such is the power of labels when humans communicate. But I disagree that no religion is the same as religion.

There's a difference between a loosely organized regular gathering of people who like to relax together despite their "religious" differences, and choreographed audience participation in supplication to a magic space king. Either that or sports bars and pubs are religious gatherings, which they are not.

 

[funinspace]

Sounds like a good idea. We'll need to give it a name to indicate how we're using it to unite people together. Maybe we should call it something like Unitarianism?

That name is already taken by a theistic group. So to avoid confusion it's probably better to call it something else.

How about Unicornism

 

[DrZoidberg]

You might find this lecture interesting. It's called the "religion of no religion".

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tFOaCve13DI

Oh, God (who doesn't exist) was that painful to watch. This is what I hate about religion and "religious philosophy" which once upon of time drew me to be a vocal atheist (which I still am). No, it's wasn't interesting. It was just lots of nonsense IMHO.

As far as I'm concerned religion isn't about how the world works. That's what science is for (and in some cases philosophy). Religion is about managing people and their emotions. That's what they're good at, and what I believe it is for, and why it still exists today and still has a fan-club.

I can't think of anything that interests me less than metaphysics. As far as I'm concerned anything beyond physics is stuff that we'll never interact with, ie we can ignore it. Which covered that entire talk.

edit: I should say that I got a feeling that talk is aimed at Christians. Which might explain some of the language. Still stupid though.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Transcedentalism is an old American "religious" movement similar to what you are describing. And there are other movements that play an important role in Religious progressivism. Socinianism for example. There were others, such as The Ethical Culture movement, and even Soviet creation of church-like atheist organizations in Communist Russia.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Sounds like a good idea. We'll need to give it a name to indicate how we're using it to unite people together. Maybe we should call it something like Unitarianism?

That name is already taken by a theistic group. So to avoid confusion it's probably better to call it something else.

Yep, kind of my exact point. To further avoid confusion, you might not want to use their religion when creating your new one as well.

 

[southernhybrid]

Are you familiar with the Sunday Assembly movement? From what I've read, it sounds very similar to what you have described.

https://www.sundayassembly.com/story

The Sunday Assembly was started by Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, two comedians who were on the way to a gig in Bath when they discovered they both wanted to do something that was like church but totally secular and inclusive of all—no matter what they believed.

The first ever Sunday Assembly meeting took place on January 6th 2013 at The Nave in Islington. Almost 200 people turned up at the first meeting, 300 at the second and soon people all over the world asked to start one.

Now there are over 70 Sunday Assembly chapters in 8 different countries where people sing songs, hear inspiring talks, and create community together.

Why do we exist? Life is short, it is brilliant, it is sometimes tough, we build communities that help everyone live life as fully as possible.

It's an attempt to create a secular church, especially for people that have left religion and feel a void in their lives.

 

[Horatio Parker]

You might find this lecture interesting. It's called the "religion of no religion".

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tFOaCve13DI

Oh, God (who doesn't exist) was that painful to watch. This is what I hate about religion and "religious philosophy" which once upon of time drew me to be a vocal atheist (which I still am). No, it's wasn't interesting. It was just lots of nonsense IMHO.

As far as I'm concerned religion isn't about how the world works. That's what science is for (and in some cases philosophy). Religion is about managing people and their emotions. That's what they're good at, and what I believe it is for, and why it still exists today and still has a fan-club.

I can't think of anything that interests me less than metaphysics. As far as I'm concerned anything beyond physics is stuff that we'll never interact with, ie we can ignore it. Which covered that entire talk.

edit: I should say that I got a feeling that talk is aimed at Christians. Which might explain some of the language. Still stupid though.

I don't think he's talking of how the world works; its about a way of thinking about how the world works, but whatever. I think you took it too literally.


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[DrZoidberg]

Transcedentalism is an old American "religious" movement similar to what you are describing.

I did spend a lot of time reading up on Transcendentalism. I was never a fan. I just do that sometimes. Pick an obscure topic and just go for it. To me Transcendentalism was nothing more than New Age, ie trying to explain the world. That said, there's loads of stuff within New Age that we're using in Syntheism. It's just when it's used as some sort of model to explain the world or used as a method to find the Truth... that's when they loose me. And from what I remember Transcendentalists were all about that. "If it feels right, it must be right". Well... feelings suck for getting things right. They are important, but they shouldn't guide us to shit IMHO.

And there are other movements that play an important role in Religious progressivism.

I don't see myself as a religious progressive. I don't want to reform any existing religion. The way I see it is that theistic religion is dead or dying and I'm just trying to figure out what I can salvage from the wreckage.

The problem is that we're so used to thinking of religion as having to be about a God that we assume that the God bit is the important bit. So when religion dies we reject the rest as well. Baby with the bathwater and so on. I think that is bad.

Socinianism for example.

As long as they believe in an actual litteral god then they've lost my interest.

There were others, such as The Ethical Culture movement,

That's another one I've read up a lot on. Weren't they mostly just romantics/luddites? A product of industrialization, longing back to a time before it all. Incidentally, a time when all of those wealthy Fabianites wouldn't be able to afford these musings. I see them as very much a product of their times. Hard to translate to today's world.

Also, I don't think religion should be about ethics either. Religion shouldn't teach us anything, other than providing methods for dealing with emotions. Which touches on ethics. But it shouldn't tell us right from wrong IMHO. There are better ways for learning that than from religion.

and even Soviet creation of church-like atheist organizations in Communist Russia.

This is super interesting. Also something I've read up on. It's a pattern. I love that the Soviet system, when "destroying" Christianity replaced every Christian institution with a communist counterpart. Keeping the entire framework intact. But just no god. I find this super fascinating. But IMHO it's just Christianity with another name. And Christianity is very much focused on social control. Which I think is bad. Fascinating. But nothing for me.

I think religion should help it's followers. To grow emotionally and such. That's why it's super important that there's no social control. It should rest entirely and completely on the initiative of the ordinary followers. That way it will quickly evolve to be what the followers want.

Christianity was super focused, right from the start, that all Christians could hold a united front outward. The singular and monolithic identity was the most important. That led to all manner of debates and schisms, and hierarchies and such. Soviet Communism was exactly the same.

Syntheism has none of that. Identities are fluid. Which I think is very much a 21'st century thing. We all want to be part of something greater than ourselves. But we can be a part of tonnes of greater things than ourselves. One doesn't cancel out another.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, God (who doesn't exist) was that painful to watch. This is what I hate about religion and "religious philosophy" which once upon of time drew me to be a vocal atheist (which I still am). No, it's wasn't interesting. It was just lots of nonsense IMHO.

As far as I'm concerned religion isn't about how the world works. That's what science is for (and in some cases philosophy). Religion is about managing people and their emotions. That's what they're good at, and what I believe it is for, and why it still exists today and still has a fan-club.

I can't think of anything that interests me less than metaphysics. As far as I'm concerned anything beyond physics is stuff that we'll never interact with, ie we can ignore it. Which covered that entire talk.

edit: I should say that I got a feeling that talk is aimed at Christians. Which might explain some of the language. Still stupid though.

I don't think he's talking of how the world works; its about a way of thinking about how the world works, but whatever. I think you took it too literally.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

...or perhaps I just didn't get it. That's a possibility.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Are you familiar with the Sunday Assembly movement? From what I've read, it sounds very similar to what you have described.

https://www.sundayassembly.com/story

The Sunday Assembly was started by Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, two comedians who were on the way to a gig in Bath when they discovered they both wanted to do something that was like church but totally secular and inclusive of all—no matter what they believed.

The first ever Sunday Assembly meeting took place on January 6th 2013 at The Nave in Islington. Almost 200 people turned up at the first meeting, 300 at the second and soon people all over the world asked to start one.

Now there are over 70 Sunday Assembly chapters in 8 different countries where people sing songs, hear inspiring talks, and create community together.

Why do we exist? Life is short, it is brilliant, it is sometimes tough, we build communities that help everyone live life as fully as possible.

It's an attempt to create a secular church, especially for people that have left religion and feel a void in their lives.

Yeah. They had the same idea at the same time as us. We had advanced plans to go and visit them. But we never did.

I can't know for sure, but I think it's the same thing as us. There was something in the water around 2012 or something. We were not alone. These last years we've came across a whole bunch of almost identical movements, all over the globe, (well, almost) all started the same time with the same idea.

What makes us special is that we originate in a country where religion is dead. All these other movements focus a lot on Christianity (or Buddhism in the East). They all market themselves as an alternative religion to this other major religion. It's less interesting to me since I don't understand half of the stuff they're talking about. I've never been a Christian, nor have I had much contact with that world.

 

[DrZoidberg]

That name is already taken by a theistic group. So to avoid confusion it's probably better to call it something else.

How about Unicornism

Also confusing since we're one of the few religions who doesn't believe in magical beings. Aunicornism perhaps?