In an age when science is regarded as the best method to learn about reality, the most suitable comprehensive approach to life (i.e., religious stance) is the one which is based on Nature as understood by science.  That is Religious Naturalism.  The following Minimal Statement defines Religious Naturalism for us.

More on Religious Naturalism:
Religious Naturalism: www.religiousnaturalism.org
Religious Naturalism blog: www.sacredriver.org (see "Spiritual Practice" for real-life practice)
UU Religious Naturalists: www.uurn.org

Minimal Statement on Religious Naturalism
Religious Naturalism is a spiritual and philosophical orientation arising from profound responses to the wonder and mystery of Nature and its emergent manifestations in human creativity and culture. Its views of Nature are embodied in the Epic of Evolution and informed by scientific inquiry, without reference to supernatural explanations. It emphasizes reverence and gratitude for Nature and a deep regard for all life; it recognizes the imperative of planetary sustainability. It supports efforts that honor ecological and cultural diversity, that promote social justice and free inquiry, and that create a more compassionate, rational world where humans and non-humans alike can thrive.
www.rnstatement.com

 

在這個時代，科學被認為是尋找真相的最佳方法。於是，最適切這個時代的人生哲學（宗教），便須建基於以科學認知的大自然。它就是「宗教自然主義」。以下的「宗教自然主義的最小聲明」定義何謂「宗教自然主義」。

宗教自然主義相關資源（英語）：
宗教自然主義網： www.religiousnaturalism.org
宗教自然主義博客： www.sacredriver.org （關於實修，可閱 "Spiritual Practice" 頁）
UU 宗教自然主義者： www.uurn.org

宗教自然主義的最小聲明
宗教自然主義是一種靈性上及哲學上的方針。它產生自深刻地回應大自然的奇妙與神秘，及其呈現之人類創造力及文化。它對大自然的理解源自科學研究，體現在「進化之史詩」之中，而並不參考超自然的解釋。它強調對大自然的崇敬與感恩，和對所有生命的尊重。它確認必須維持地球的可持續性。它支持以下的努力：尊重生態和文化之多樣性，促進社會正義和自由探索，創造一個更慈悲及更合理的世界致使人類和眾生都能夠蓬勃發展。
（譯自 www.rnstatement.com ）

On January 11, Unitarian Universalists Hong Kong (UUHK) becomes a Partner Church of the Community UU Church (CUUC) of Plano, Texas, thanks to the UU Partner Church Council (UUPCC).  On Sunday, January 24, CUUC celebrated our Partner Church relationship with a special Sunday service.  See pictures here: www.communityuuchurch.org/pages/HongKong .  I am very excited, feeling a sense of lively connection with a vibrant UU community on the other side of the globe.  We can concern, support, and co-operate with each other.  How wonderful and warm it is to be a part of the world UU community!


伙伴教會

於本年一月十一日，尋道會與美國德州 Plano UU 社區教會在 UU 伙伴教會評議會之下結成「伙伴教會」。在上星期日該教會的一個特別崇拜聚會中，他們慶祝與我們的「伙伴教會」關係。我感到非常興奮。看到此處的聚會圖片，我感到很奇妙，能與地球另一邊的一個活生生的 UU 群體連起來，互相記念、支持、合作。我們是世界 UU 群體的一份子，何等奇妙與溫暖！

My wife is expecting a baby boy on 8 Febuary 2010.  So I must brush up my baby-rearing skills.  A great source of information for nurturing a young baby's potential is The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia.  The Institutes have been serving brain-injured children since 1955.  Their experience eventually resulted in a series of books and materials for enhancing normal children's brain growth.  I am reading the Institutes’ founder Glenn Doman's "How Smart is Your Baby?" which is essentially a guide to enriching a baby's first year of life.  Surprisingly, a passage of the book touches on the philosophical debate between physicalism and idealism* regarding the nature of the mind.  The book clearly favours physicalism.  Page 21 of the book reads:

"It is very important to remember that when we speak of the human brain we are speaking of that physical organ that occupies the skull and the spinal column and weighs three to four pounds.

"We are not speaking of that nebulous thing called 'the mind.'  The confusion between the organ called 'the brain' and the idea called 'the mind' has created problems in the past.

"The mind has defied any agreed upon definition of what it is or what it is not.  The brain, however, is material.  It is easier to study.  We can see it, feel it, and smell it.  We can even taste it if we are inclined to do so.

"The brain is a nice, clean orderly organ whose job is to take in data and process that data in such a way that its owner can relate to his environment appropriately at all times."

Here, the idea is simple.  "Mind" is vague and cannot be defined clearly.  We are simply unable to study it.  The brain, on the other hand, is something which we are able to study.  For something that cannot be defined and we are unable to study, like "mind" and "God," all we can do is to remain silent.  Only for something that we are able to understand, like all physical entities, that we can study and obtain meaningful knowledge of them.

Ancient Chinese wisdom echoes here.  Confucius said, "Respect ghosts and gods, and stay away from them."  Also, "We know so little about this life, how can we know anything about after death?"  Confucius teaches to be reserved and remain silent for vague and unknown things.  Physicalism might not be the only explanation, but physicalism is the only explanation we can understand and handle.  I am a physicalist because I am only able to understand the physicalist universe.

*Physicalists argue that only the entities postulated by physical theory exist, and that the mind will eventually be explained in terms of these entities as physical theory continues to evolve. Idealists maintain that the mind is all that exists and that the external world is either mental itself, or an illusion created by the mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_mind

 
物理主義：「心靈」是大腦現象

我太太很可能於本年二月八日把男嬰誕下。所以，我必須惡補育嬰術。一個重要的資料來源是在費城的人類潛能促進學院。該研究所自1955年已經為腦損傷的兒童治療。他們後來發現他們的經驗可以幫助正常兒童的大腦發展。我正在讀學院創始人格連杜曼博士的《你的寶寶有多聰明？》這本書基本上是一個豐富嬰兒第一年生命的指南。出乎意料地，這本書輕輕涉及關於心靈本質的哲學辯論：物理主義和理想主義之間的爭論*。這本書明顯傾向物理主義。第21頁的內容如下：

「這點非常重要。當我們談到人類的大腦，我們說的是，一個位於頭骨和脊柱之內的，重量為3到4磅的身體器官。

「我們不是說一個所謂『心靈』的模糊慨念。以往，被稱為『大腦』的身體器官與被稱為『心靈』的理念曾經造成一些混淆。

「心靈從來沒有被成功地定義過它是甚麼或者不是甚麼。大腦則不同。它是物質的，更容易被認識。我們可以看到它，感覺它，嗅到它。我們甚至可以品嚐它，如果你有興趣的話。

「大腦是一個很好的，結構有序的器官。其任務是收集和處理數據，以適當地對環境作出反應。」

這裡非常簡單。所謂「心靈」的定義是含糊的，不能明確界定。我們根本無法對其進行研究。大腦則肯定是一樣存在的東西，我們可以研究它。不能被定義和無法被研究的東西，如「心靈」和「上帝」等，我們所能做的就只是保持沉默。只有我們有能力處理的東西，例如所有的物理實體，我們才可以學習它們以取得有意義的知識。

這與中國古代智慧不謀而合。孔子說：「敬鬼神而遠之！」，又說：「未知生，焉知死？」。孔子對虛玄未知之事持保留態度及保持沉默。物理主義可能不是唯一的解釋，但唯有物理主義是我們可以理解和處理的。我是物理主義者，因為能力所限，我只能明白物理主義的宇宙。

*物理主義者認為一切心靈現象都是由物質的大腦產生；心靈並不存在。理想主義者認為只有心靈存在，整個所謂物理世界都只是由心靈產生的幻覺。

Hundreds of people sing "Silent Night" to the glow of candles at a Christmas Eve service at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in San Francisco. The song, lit strictly by the candles, is a traditional highlight of the early evening service. (San Francisco Chronicle picture from Christmas 2008)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0WwZc-Vz7Y

In this video, the narrator uses the seven-stage model of psychological transition put forward by Sugarman in her book "Life-Span Development" to explore the emotional side of personal transition from Christian to Atheist.  It is very useful for SafeHouse, a resting place and support group for people in transition of religious faith.  The SafeHouse can watch this video and discuss.

這套 YouTube 短片以心理發展的七個階段模型理解由基督徒過渡到無神論者的情緒轉變。看來十分適合「心靈休息室」觀看及討論。（「心靈休息室」是一個為宗教信仰轉變者而設的互助小組。）

The world should be alerted about this unbelievably horrible reality. In Nigeria, thousands of children are believed, by evangelical Christians, to be demon-possessed "witches" and some of them are tortured to death (1). Rev Helen Ukpabio of the Liberty Gospel Church is an infamous witch hunter. She made films to educate people that child "witches" exist (2). Her church's supporters have invaded a child rights conference (3), during which a humanist anti-superstition educator Leo Igwere's belongings were stolen. Now, Ukpabio has filed a lawsuit in the Nigerian federal court against Igwere for "religious discrimination" (hearing on Dec 17) (4)! A superstition-spreader who most likely indirectly caused multiple child murders brings to court a humane worker who tried to stop those children from being murdered! What on earth can be more absurd!

This terrible thing forced me to reflect on religious faith, Christian faith in particular. Some Christians in Nigeria believed that certain children are demon-possessed witches, and tried to cast out demons to the point of murdering those children. Faith kills. Christians all over the world should reflect on the nature (and danger) of their own religious faith.

You might wonder how that bizarre thing in Nigeria can be related to the faith of Christians in the rest of the world. They are. At the heart of Christianity is a set of supernatural doctrines. A personal God created and is looking after this world. God hears and answers prayers. Bible being the Word of God. Original sin. Jesus is God. Virgin birth. Salvation by crucifixion. Resurrection. Second coming. Eternal life. Satan is real. Spiritual warfare between God and Satan. Satan can possess a human. And more.

If Christians believed these, it follows that a child can be possessed by Satan (demon). If a child is believed to be possessed, why not cast out the demon from the child? If the exorcism failed, why not "deliver" the poor child to "eternal life"? The line of thought is logical. More importantly, the concepts of "spiritual warfare" and demon possession are alive in Western Christians, most notably among charismatics and evangelicals. And Christian exorcism is still being practiced in the West, only not to the degree of murder.

Christianity, following Judaism, has been praising the faith of Abraham in intending to (though being stopped at the last moment) sacrifice his own son upon God's order. By praising Abraham, Christianity indirectly endorses human sacrifice. Abraham might have nothing to do with the situation in Nigeria, but seeing human life as less worthy than faith in God is the same common core value behind. Religious faiths, including Christianity, can be dangerous. The only safeguard is to put universal human rights standard above all religious faiths and all religious authorities, including the Holy Bible. Put it simply, to make the world safer, we must put human life above God.

The Bible says that Satan is real, demon possession is real. The Bible and the Church praise Abraham’s attempted child sacrifice. If you believe that a particular child is being possessed, will you endorse performing exorcism on him/her? Why or why not? If you believe that God demands you to sacrifice your own son, will you obey God out of faith? Why or why not? Is faith a virtue or a vice? Should a believer obey or be critical of religious authorities (Bible, Church, Pope, ministers, the Nigerian children-killing Christian leaders, etc)? These are important questions for all Christians to ask themselves.


尼日利亞：福音派信徒殺害兒童「巫師」

世界應該知道這件令人震慄的可怕事件。在尼日利亞，數以千計的兒童被基督教福音派信徒相信是被魔鬼附體的「巫師」，當中一些兒童甚至被折磨致死（1）。「自由福音教會」牧師海倫．Ukpabio是一個著名的獵巫者。她製作短片宣傳兒童「巫師」的確存在（2）。她的支持者曾闖入一個兒童權利會議搗亂（3），混亂間一位在場的反迷信教育家利奧．Igwere的財物被盜。現在，Ukpabio居然告上尼日利亞聯邦法院，控告Igwere「宗教歧視」，聆訊將於本月十七日展開（4）！世上還有更荒唐的事嗎？一名散播迷信，導致許多兒童被虐待致死的人在法庭控告一個試圖阻止這些兒童被殺害的人道工作者！

這件可怕的事情，迫使我反省宗教信仰，尤其是基督教信仰。有些在尼日利亞的基督徒相信，某些兒童是被魔鬼附體的「巫師」，為他們「趕鬼」，甚至殺害那些的兒童。信仰可殺人！世界各地的基督徒都應該反省他們自己的宗教信仰及其危險性。

你可能認為發生在尼日利亞的恐怖事情與世界其他地方的基督徒的信仰無關。它們實在有極大關係。在基督宗教信仰的核心是一套超自然信念：上帝創造並保守世界；上帝聽禱告；聖經是神的話語；原罪；耶穌是神；處女生子；十架救贖；復活；基督再來；永生；撒旦是真實的；神和撒旦屬靈爭戰；鬼附；等等。

如果基督徒相信這些，自然也相信孩子有可能被撒旦（魔鬼）附體。孩子被鬼附，為何不替他們趕鬼？如果趕鬼失敗，為何不早送孩子入永生？這樣的思路是合邏輯的。更重要的是，「屬靈爭戰」是西方基督徒也相信的，尤其是靈恩派和福音派。西方基督教也有進行趕鬼，只是不至殺人而已。

基督宗教，承繼猶太教，讚揚亞伯拉罕的信心，在上帝的命令之下，打算把自己的兒子獻祭。基督宗教讚揚亞伯拉罕，便間接贊同以活人獻祭。亞伯拉罕或許與尼日利亞的情況無關，但視人的性命低於對上帝的信心，便是兩者背後共通的價值觀。宗教信仰，包括基督宗教，可以是危險的。唯一的保障，就是把普世人權標準置於一切宗教信仰和所有宗教權威之上，包括聖經。簡單來說，使世界更加安全，我們必須把人的生命置於上帝之上。

聖經說撒旦是真實的，鬼附真有其事。聖經和教會讚美亞伯拉罕企圖殺子。如果您相信某個孩子被鬼附，你會否贊同替他趕鬼？為何，為何不？如果你相信上帝要求你犧牲自己的兒子，你會否以信心服從上帝？為何，為何不？信心是一種美德或是一種惡？信徒應該服從宗教權威或批判宗教權威（聖經、教會、教宗、牧師、尼日利亞殺兒童的基督教領袖等）？這些都是所有基督徒要問自己的重要問題。


Notes 註:

1 Saving Africa’s Witch Children (Channel 4)
www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-8/episode-1
"In some of the poorest parts of Nigeria, where evangelical religious fervour is combined with a belief in sorcery and black magic, many thousands of children are being blamed for catastrophes, death and famine: and branded witches. Denounced as Satan made flesh by powerful pastors and prophetesses, these children are abandoned, tortured, starved and murdered: all in the name of Jesus Christ."

2 End Of The Wicked – Helen Ukpabio www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUeKBibBN0I

3 Helen Ukpabio supporters invade child rights conference in Calabar, Nigeria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWktZEj6OZ8 

4 Witch Hunter Takes Humanist to Court (from a CFI email)

In May 2009, the Center for Inquiry (CFI) launched an anti-superstition campaign to highlight and combat the abuse of alleged "child witches" throughout the African continent. Now "witch hunter" Helen Ukpabio, head of the Liberty Gospel Church in Nigeria, has filed a lawsuit in Nigerian federal court against Leo Igwe, CFI's representative in Nigeria.

The events were set into motion on July 29 when a mob of about 150 members from Ukpabio's Liberty Gospel Church attacked Igwe and others during a "Child Rights and Witchcraft" event in Calabar, Nigeria. Police finally broke up the mob and arrested one person. Igwe’s bag, phone, camera, and a copy of his planned speech were stolen and his eyeglasses were smashed.

The complaint filed by Ukpabio essentially alleges religious discrimination on the part of Igwe, who has been a tireless vocal critic of Ukpabio's claims that many of Nigeria's children and women are "witches". The suit, scheduled for a hearing on December 17, is seeking an injunction to prevent Igwe and other humanist groups from holding seminars or workshops aimed at raising awareness about the dangers associated with religious belief in witchcraft. 

(The mission of the Center for Inquiry is to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values.)

The day is November 24, 2009.

From the HUUmanists email list:

Remember that today is a holy day to Humanists, Unitarian Universalists, and all others who hold sacred our rapidly increasing knowledge of our own precious human nature, and especially its relation to the rest of the universe.  One hundred fifty years ago today, on November 24, 1859, Charles Darwin opened the gates of heaven with his publication of "On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life," and suddenly a great light shone down upon us all.  Our understanding of ourselves has grown rapidly ever since, is growing today, and will continue to grow forever.  Humanity will never be the same again.
David Schafer

Amen and hallelujah!
Phil

Spinoza was born on this day in 1632. 
Happy Birthday to you, Spinoza.  Another reason for a Humanist celebration.
Gordon Gamm

Spinoza is best known for his Ethics, a monumental work that presents an ethical vision unfolding out of a monistic metaphysics in which God and Nature are identified. God is no longer the transcendent creator of the universe who rules it via providence, but Nature itself, understood as an infinite, necessary, and fully deterministic system of which humans are a part. Humans find happiness only through a rational understanding of this system and their place within it.
www.iep.utm.edu/spinoza

今日大日子！《物種起源》出版；史賓諾沙出生

十一月廿四日是大日子！

UU人文主義電郵列表有人寫道：

今天是所有認為人類知識增長是神聖的人的聖日。一百五十年前的今天，達爾文出版《物種起源》，為人類打開天堂之門，知識的大光突然普照世人。自此，人類對自己的認識突飛猛進；人類從此不再一樣。

阿門！哈利路亞！

史賓諾沙於一六三二年的今天出生。生日快樂，史賓諾沙。這是另一件值得人文主義者慶賀的事件。

（史賓諾沙提出一元論，即神與自然原為一。神不再是一超越者，創造並保守宇宙，而是自然本身，無限而必然，而人是其中的一份子。）

Carl Sagan's book "The Varieties of Scientific Experience" (New York: Penguin, 2006) explains very well what Religious Naturalism is, although Carl has not identified himself or his religious view with this term.  Religious Naturalism approaches religion and spirituality by the way of science.  The words of Ann Druyan, Carl's wife and editor of the book, in "Editor's Introduction," are remarkably in-line with this position:

For Carl, Darwin's insight that life evolved over the eons through natural selection was not just better science than Genesis, it also afforded a deeper, more satisfying spiritual experience. (p. x)

He believed that the little we do know about nature suggests that we know even less about God.  We had only just managed to get an inkling of the grandeur ofthe cosmos and its exquisite laws that guide the evolution of trillions if not infinite numbers of worlds.  The newly acquired vision made the God who created the World seem hopelessly local and dated, bound to transparently human misconceptions and conceipts of the past.  (p. x)

...he never understand why anyone wound want to separate science, which is just a way of searching for what is true, from what we hold sacred, which are those truths that inspire love and awe.  (p. xi)

His argument was not with God but with those who believed that our understanding of the sacred had been completed.  Science's premanently revolutionary conviction that the search for truth never ends seemed to him the only approach with sufficient humility to be worthy of the universe that it revealed.  The methodology of science, with tis error-correcting mechanism for keeping us honest in spite of our chronic tendencies to project, to misunderstand, to deceive ourselves and others, seemed to him the height of spiritual discipline.  If you are searching for sacred knowledge and not just a palliative for your fears, then you will train yourself to be a good skeptic.  (p. xi)

The idea that the scientific method should be applied to the deepest of questions is frequently decried as "scientism."  This charge is made by those who hold that religious beliefs whould be off-limits to scientific scrutiny---that beliefs (convictions without evidence that can be tested) are a sufficient way of knowing.  Carl understood this feeling, but he insisted with Bertrand Russell that "what is wanted is not the will to believe, but the desire to find out, which is the exact opposite."  (p. xi)

Until about five hundred years ago, there had been no such wall separating science and religion.  Back then they were one and the same.  It was only when a group of religious men who wished "to read God's mind" realized that science would be the most powerful means to do so that a wall was needed.  These men---among them Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and, much later, Darwin---began to articulate and internalize the scientific method.  Science took off for stars, and institutional religion, choosing to deny the new revelations, could do little more than build a protective wall around itself.  (p. xi)

To him we were "starstuff pondering the stars; organized assemblages of 10 billion billion billion atoms considering the evolution of atoms; tracing the long journey by which, here at least, consciousness arose."  For him science was, in part, a kind of "informed worship."  (p. xiii)