"Why Humanists Go to Church" w/Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar

[Music] people often ask me why why do humanist atheists agnostics and people who don't have traditional beliefs or belief structures come to all souls i think folks are very curious about that and yet for me it's kind of a a pretty simple answer on this sunday when we are celebrating our coming of age class those who are saying goodbye to childhood and and looking towards their future we hear their credos and so every year there's always at least one sometimes more of our young people who come out to our congregation as as being humanistic or atheistic in their beliefs they always also have all kinds of beautiful values that that they believe in and use to make their lives significant and make a difference in the world like we heard ryan just said is he read his credo saying i don't believe in god i don't believe in traditional religion in any way shape or form and then he went on to describe what he cares about and what difference he wants to make in the world and why that's important and addie who also talked about god in her credo but in a very different way than any traditional god that most people think of so it's really on a today of all days i think an interesting time to have this conversation also has always in its hundred years we're gonna celebrate our 100th birthday next sunday march 28th 100 years in our hundred years we've always had humanists naturalists rationalists secular jews cultural catholics practicing buddhists atheists agnostics we've always had our share of doubters dissenters debaters scholars skeptics scientists and secularists truth be told there are a lot of people who first walk into these doors and come to this congregation online or otherwise for their children they come because they are parents who want their children to be a part of a learning community in which they could explore the important questions about life and meaning and morals and death they want their children to know about religious matters but and to be competent in in basic bible stories and to know about the religions of the world it's just to be rhetorically interesting in and to understand the arts and and literature and a lot of references in plays and drama and movies and other things to know the basics of the core religious and philosophical players and principles and stories is so important and so parents want their children to have that but they don't want their minds to be filled with guilt and shame and judgment and exclusionary thoughts and beliefs they want their children to learn about the big questions of life and how they've been answered by other people they but they don't want them to do that in a way that denies science or suspends rationality or in any way that might inhibit their children's innate curiosity about matters of spirituality and and faith and their questions they want to have a place for their questions so here at all souls the focus of our religious education is exploration and not indoctrination and not recitation and things like that so we try to make sure our children understand what are the big questions and how have people answered those questions over time in different cultures in different contexts in different places and we try to provide them with the basic decision-making skills so that as they encounter a world with ever-changing mores and technologies and other things that they have the basic understanding of how do i make a moral judgment what's important to me what are my core values so that i can live in the right way when you there is no bible to turn to there is no scripture that that understands a lot of the things that we face and that we deal with every day so we want to teach young people how to think how to make decisions and how people in the past have made such decisions we want to nurture a sense of awe in this amazing creation it's amazing cosmos that we live in so it's about opening up our children's worlds to the beauty of life to the songs of the spirit as well as to the teachings of science and that's why many parents first come for their children but end up staying for themselves now most people never knew that there was a religion so open and so free they never knew that there was a church where they did not have to feel like a hypocrite in order to attend where they could bring their doubts and bring their questions and even be honest about what they really believe so some of the things that keep humanists and atheists here are the same things that keep any people here the freedom to be honest about what we believe gosh and i'll tell you in oklahoma of all places to have a place to have a community of people where we can just say what we believe without being uh verbally attacked about what the bible says and that we're wrong or that we're going to hell it's a wonderful thing it's an oasis for our spirit to have a place where we can come and be ourselves and be honest and be around other curious seekers and thinkers and it's the opportunity to learn from different people who who may come from different cultures different backgrounds different religious ideologies because anybody can go to an all-humanist church or go to an all liberal christian church or go to a you know any kind of a congregation where people do think and believe alike and there's something beautiful about that and many people get a lot out of that but to be in an environment as rich as all souls where you have people coming from multiple directions and and points of view creates a really dynamic learning environment for everybody to grow it's the opportunity also to be a part of programs that and a community that's dedicated to racial justice and environmental justice and other causes in the world that sees religion not as something that we do one day a week or within four walls or that we keep just to ourselves privately but something that we believe should impact and influence the world just today uh march 21st is the anniversary of martin luther king and many religious people walking across the bridge from selma on their way to montgomery there were 120 over 125 unitarian universalists ministers with that group people of all different faiths lots of religious clergy as well as laypeople who said our values our faith causes us and tells us calls us to make the world more fair and more equal for all people and people want to be a part of that but many of us want to be a part of that without having to buy into a lot of doctrines creeds and other things that we don't believe in and to be honest in this day and age to be a part of a real community just to be a part of community is becoming harder and harder in many cases in the urbanization and the technology and everything that's happening around us to be able to be part of a community of purpose and wonder and questioning and beauty is really something that means a lot to many people regardless of what perspective they come to come from so people come to all souls not people who come here don't usually ask the question will i agree with everything that the minister or ministers say they don't often ask will i agree with every word of every song that is sung in the congregation because that's not the point in fact most people won't at some point agree with certain things but have the freedom to decide for themselves what they do believe instead people who come to all souls ask is there room for my perspective for my doubts for my questions is there room can i feel included is there a place for me and am i learning and am i growing and am i making an impact on the world through my association with this community i want to share with you something i share in all of my found foundations classes which is theologian james luther adams says i'm more concerned about idolatry than i am about atheism now what does he mean by that i mean what does he mean by idolatry and what he means by idolatry is idolatry is when people hold up as the most important thing something that is not worthy of that level of sacrifice and commitment and and devotion so idolatry is any time somebody it could be money it could be fame things that people hold this is the most important thing this is what drives my life this is what i'll sacrifice for but it can also mean religious ideologies that that are just unworthy of of people's sacrifice and of giving their lives over so i'm always i've often been struck by the provocative words of my colleague carlton pearson who who said many years ago that the god that many people worship many particularly fundamentalist christians worship is is worse than hitler and i was like when i heard him say that i think everybody does we kind of take take a pause but but then he follows up and says you know that god is is worse than hitler because hitler only killed or killer only burned six million jews but that god is burning all the jews of all times in all places through all history eternally and not only the jews but the buddhists and the hindus and the muslims and the all different people it's the most sadistic god and to hold that god up and worship and pray to that god it's dangerous in fact a god people will that that's i idolatry to worship something or someone as god that isn't worthy of that kind of devotion there are people who worship god that that they believe excludes gay and lesbian people or that considers women to be less than or that supported slavery in the past or other things that is a form of idolatry and so what james luther adams was saying and what i feel wholeheartedly uh i'm behind is this idea that i'm much more worried about idolatry people believing in something that is not worthy of their belief rather than atheism which is which is somebody not believing in god i'm i'm left much less concerned about people not believing in god than believing in something as god that's not god in fact most of the atheists that i know are some of the most uh caring people i mean one of the things they have to keep in mind with atheism is if you don't believe that there's a god that's going to fix everything that's going to either come back and fix it or that's in control and making everything happen then it's up to us if we're going to create a more fair world if we're going to save the planet if we're going to help the poor feed the hungry create a more functioning democracy all those things they require us we're the ones human beings and so i find that atheists humanists agnostics often are some of the most moral people rather than the other way around so i want to just say close with a few thoughts about why i enjoy being in a community and learning from different faiths and traditions and being able to and encouraged even by my church community to to explore different faith traditions because i get something out of out of all of them in different ways so here's some of the things i appreciate about atheists and humanists that they've taught me to be careful about superstitions in religion and to avoid magical thinking that could lead to idolatries of the mind also atheists and humanists as i said tend to have a strong sense of responsibility so the buddhists from buddhists i've learned to pay attention to the moment and to the possibility and purpose of sitting with pain and with suffering my own and other peoples from hindus they've taught me how the body can be a vehicle for wisdom and to how they understand i think better than anyone the connection between mind and and body and spirit and how the wholeness of all of these things are an important part of a a full and meaningful life for muslims they've shown me that religion can be part of every moment in life in that tradition religion is how you live every day and moment and it's not just the priests and the and monks and nuns who are said to pray are meant to practice their religion and devotion but every member and i think that there's something truly beautiful and that plus the muslims brought us the sufi poets that i love like hafiz and rumi the jews have shown me how to bring religion into my home with friends and family and have shared the conviction that religion must be on the side of justice from christianity i've gotten jesus as an example of fearless love and radical inclusion so in so many ways the the plethora of religions and cultures and philosophies are all like fountains to be that we can drink from and be nourished from and learn from and then given the freedom and trusting one another to make up our own minds which may lead some to a belief in a god that's traditional some not so traditional some not believing in a god at all or finding the concept of god helpful the most important thing that we say here at all souls is to love beyond our beliefs that that love is more important than belief we may have different beliefs but my question for you is not what do you believe but are you loving how do you love does your belief lead you to love more to be more inclusive and compassionate and kind so with that i hope this has helped you to understand why so many people who consider themselves humanist or agnostic or atheist skeptics and doubters and dissenters scientists and secularists and others come to all souls want to attend church or or or maybe other unitarian churches that are out there in our community and beyond and across the country in the world and i hope that you understand why our coming of age program is so important to us that our young people have time to figure out what it is that they believe and just know that we trust our young people to look at and think about the big questions and answer those questions for themselves and every year they come forward with credos all different but always responsible and we trust them and in the same way i hope you'll do the same and think through your credo your beliefs and know that we trust you and we love you too thank you for joining us for 100 years all souls in tulsa has been a beacon of this free faith we offer our services and programs freely online for all those who are interested you can help us to do this by making a one-time gift today or a recurring pledge we really appreciate you joining us and being a part of helping us make all souls in tulsa what it is thank you you know while i was just listening to reverend dr martin speak i was thinking what musical response could i do and then i thought of when david smith has led us in the classic beatles tune all you need is love that's what he said that's what marlon just said see how these things happen just see how this it just music happens hope you'll sing along we need your voice [Music] all you need is love all you need is love help us out here all you need is love love that's it marlon love is all you need that's it all you need is love all you need is love all you need is love love love is all you one more time all you need is love all you need is love i hear you karen all you need is love love love is all you need [Music] is all you need

Channel: All Souls Unitarian

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Id: LH8ZF4NR0qM

Length: 20min 29sec (1229 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 22 2021