Can a person not believe in God, and yet still be religious? In his latest book, former Boston Globe science writer and professor of physics at Stonehill College Chet Raymo argues that you can. Raised in a traditional Catholic family and a graduate of Notre Dame in the early 1960s, Raymo is now a “scientific agnostic” who believes modern science best describes our universe and our place within it: the human mind is the physical brain, and there is no dualistic soul; when human beings die, they are gone forever; humans are not the product of a personal and divine creator who loves mankind, but rather products of the remorseless natural process of descent with modification.

Science, with its kissing cousin technology, has made people’s lives demonstrably better in ways that could not have been dreamed of a few hundred years ago. Science teaches us to say, “I don’t know” when it comes to our ignorance of the world around us, rather than “God Did It” as religion does.

However, Raymo also is a “religious naturalist,” who believes, contra New Atheists Dawkins and Harris, that the language of religion is necessary to fully capture the beauty of the natural world. Getting rid of religious language for Raymo is like throwing out the baby with the bathwater because the bathwater is foul. Words like Grace, Holy, and Reverence for him no longer referr to the supernatural, only the awe, wonder and interconnectedness we see around us. He has traded the anthropomorphic God of his childhood, for the Deus Absconditus of the mystics and a Nature that loves to hide. “Faith no longer matters,” writes Raymo, “so much as attention, celebration, wonder, and praise.”

And what of the Church he grew up in? Raymo is pained to see the Church caught halfway between the 21st century and the18th, with some of the finest universities and scientific research programs in the world, but with only a theology shot through with magical thinking that can’t possibly appreciate them; a Church with a beautiful sacramental and liturgical life and history of art and music, but with an ugly, male-only hierarchy that still wants the peons under them to “pay, pray and obey;” a Church caught between Vatican II, Pope John XXIII, Eckhart and Tielhard de Chardin, and Catholic dogma, Pope John Paul II, and the Theocons like Michael Novak and the late Richard John Neuhaus.

However, he hopes fervently that the laity and Modernizers of the Church can overcome its past and current hierarchy, and become worthy of the title Holy. That a Jesuit book publisher such as Ave Maria Press chose to published a book advocating agnosticism is a step in the right direction. For Raymo, only when the supernatural, including God, is exercised can everything be made Holy and full of Grace. A very beautiful and important book.

Watch a short video of Raymo taking his daily walk to work.

Raymo’s blog

When God is Gone, Everything is Holy: The Making of a Religious Naturalist
by Chet Raymo
Sorin Books, imprint of Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana
Published 2008
Pages 148
Hardcover

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David Harding is the vice-president of CNY Skeptics.

Many Christians in America believe that the Bible is an inerrant and thoroughly consistent book, though virtually no reputable biblical scholar has believed this for over a century. In his most recent book, Jesus, Interrupted, New Testament scholar and popularizer Bart D. Ehrman sets out to educate lay people about the contradictions in the Christian Bible, specifically in the New Testament.

Ehrman starts out by describing the historical-critical method that has dominated biblical scholarship for the last hundred and fifty years. He covers the basic contradictions and variations amongst the books of the New Testament that become obvious when one lists their order of events side by side. When was Jesus crucified? What did Jesus say on the cross before he died? Who was at his tomb when it was discovered to be empty? Who first learned of his resurrection? Who did Jesus first appear to after his resurrection? Did Paul go directly to Jerusalem after his vision of Jesus? etc, etc. Some of these contradictions are not very important, and some of them strike at the heart of people’s beliefs about Christianity.

He explains what the vast majority of biblical scholars believe about who wrote the books of the New Testament and when, how the books were selected for inclusion and the great diversity of beliefs amongst early Christians about who Jesus was and what he taught, whether they should follow the Jewish Law outlined in the Torah and even more surprising things, like how many Gods there are! Most shocking for many believers will be the fact that the New Testament is mostly silent about orthodox Christian beliefs such as the Trinity, Jesus’ divinity, and Heaven and Hell. Most of these ideas were developed by Christians well after most of the books in the New Testament were written.

In his final chapter, Ehrman explains that even if one accepts that the Bible is not internally consistent, one can still believe. Indeed, most of his fellow textual critics are Christians, though they do not subscribe to orthodox Christian beliefs. Ehrman himself is an agnostic, though he lost his faith in Christianity not through his textual criticism, but through his thinking about theodicy and the bible, the subject of an earlier book of his called God’s Problem.

The book is an easy read and Ehrman is an excellent writer, though if you have read many of Ehrman’s early books it may get a bit repetitive. Highly recommended to believer and skeptic alike.

Also of interest is an interview with Ehrman about the book.

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David Harding is the vice-president of CNY Skeptics.

Ben Stein’s Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is certainly the most dishonest movie I have ever seen, portraying Intelligent Design supporters as political martyrs to Big Science, academia as the equivalent to the USSR, and doing everything it can to link Charles Darwin and evolution directly to the Holocaust. It truly is despicable and intellectually insipid in a way I thought not possible until now. If you want all the gory details about how awful this film is factually, please visit the NCSE’s Expelled Exposed website and Scientific American.

Unfortunately, the movie is almost certainly a success. In the US, most people know absolutely nothing about evolution, or any other form of science for that matter. They probably never heard anything about it in their schooling, from the media, or from the science establishment. If they know anything about it, it is probably something negative (and false) they heard from a creationist. It must also be remembered that most people in the US (and for that matter, around the world) rely on understanding their world through perceptions, feelings, and intuitions, not facts, logic, or evidence.

This film may very well be the only thing that many people ever hear about evolution, and while factually worthless, it is decent propaganda. I thought that the film would be hard to watch because Ben Stein wasn’t likable enough. I was wrong. Stein is human: funny or serious as the situation demands, with his characteristic dead-pan delivery and wit. Although the film sags in the middle when Stein takes his little trip to Hadamar and Dachau, and then on to Down House, it moves at a fairly brisk pace and effectively uses images, editing, and symbolism to get its point across (though Stein and the director are no Michael Moore).

The images used play more to a generally conservative, though not overtly evangelical/conservative, audience: evolutionists are associated with Stalin, communism, the Berlin wall, angry atheists, Planned Parenthood, eugenics, euthanasia, and abortion, while Stein and the ID supporters are juxtaposed with Reagan, American flags, the Washington monument, MLK Jr., the destruction of the Berlin wall, Mom, and apple pie.

The ID supporters are given ample time to present their vague and ill-documented claims, while the evolutionists get scant screen time and, for the most part, look bad (not necessarily their fault, probably due to editing). All of this makes for a compelling, if somewhat heavy-handed and overwrought, film. Most people who do not know anything about evolution or ID will probably be swayed by it. To believe otherwise is wishful thinking. Contrary to the opinion of many prominent science bloggers, it is a really big deal for a documentary to be shown in thousands of theaters in the US (most documentaries will only be shown in a handful). It is a big deal for a documentary to take in $3 million dollars in its first weekend (most never take in hundreds of thousands). It is a big deal for a documentary to be supported by millions of dollars of PR and expensive TV and print advertising (most documentaries get none).

People can argue over whether Expelled will ever make enough money to cover its costs (I think it will through DVD sales), but it will influence a lot of people, and no debunking website (not matter how factually correct) will reach as many people. The only thing that would be effective would be another film to counter it, like Randy Olsen’s Flock of Dodos. But that isn’t likely in the cards. This is a bad day for the public understanding of science. Really bad.

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David Harding is the vice-president of CNY Skeptics.

Originally published April 2008.