But
enough of the bad news. Would you like some
good
news?
(Audience:
Yeah!)
My
brothers and sisters, in this vast desert of dogmatism there is an
oasis! Hallelujah!
(Audience:
Hallelujah!)
In
this churning sea of belief, there is a small, safe harbor. Praise
the Lord!
(Audience:
Praise the Lord!)
In
this dark swamp of dogma, there is a shaft of light! Yes, there is!
(Audience:
Yes, there is!)
And
that oasis and that harbor and that shaft of light is none other
than our own Unitarian Church. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
(Audience:
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!)
Let
the word go forth that THERE IS A PEOPLE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE A DAMN
THING!
(Applause.
Amens. Laughter.)
Blessings
upon you, my people!
(Laughter.
Applause.)
We
have no doctrines, no revelation. We're fallible. We're finite. And
there are those who say we are fuzzy.
(Laughter)
Be
proud of it, my people! When it comes to fuzziness, We're NUMBER
ONE!
(Applause.
Cheers.)
One by one we have quit believing doctrines: The Trinity---The deity of Jesus---The resurrection---Hell---Revelation (Holy books).
How can you have a Church without doctrines? We build our church around Values and community.
I
share with you this morning a happy vision. It's Bertrand Russell's
vision of Judgment Day. Says he, "Someday all mankind may have
to account for where it's put its trust. Someday all mankind will
be ushered before the Almighty. And the Almighty will say, 'All of
you who did not believe in me, step forward.'" And Russell
says, "Me and a handful of others will step forward." And
the Almighty will say, "You didn't believe in me, did you? But
then, there never was any conclusive proof
even of my existence. Therefore, you were the only honest people on
earth. Blessed are thou. Enter ye into the kingdom of rest."
(Cheers.
Applause.)
"Now,
for the rest of you. You believed in me, but you believed in me in
order to escape the anxieties of living. You are essentially
cowards and liars, and so depart from me, for I am ashamed of you."
(Audience:
Amen!)
Beware,
brothers and sisters! On that judgment day, it is believers
who would be cast into the lake of fire. Verily, I say unto you,
broad is the way that leads to religious belief, and many there be
that enter in. And narrow is the gate to courageous
living, and few there be that find it.
(Audience: Oh, no-o-o-o!)
All
of humankind is like that man in a dark forest with only a small
candle for a light. It's not much, but it's all he's got. And a
second man comes up to him and whispers in his ear, "Blow out
your candle." That second man is a theologian.
(Laughter)
The
theologians and preachers of this world are asking you to blow out
the candle of your own reason and follow them.
Believing
In religion, according to George Carlin, is like wearing elevator
shoes: at first you get a lift, but if you wear them long enough,
you get crippled,
(Laughter)
Karl
Marx was right about religion. It is the opiate of the people.
Now,
what is belief? Belief is accepting some thing as true without
having experienced It. It's uncritical trust, and it's blind faith.
People believe in things like astrology, golden books, flying
saucers, the resurrection of Jesus or the infallibility of the Pope.
The opposite of belief is experience. If you experience
something, then you know it's the truth, but the same thing believed
is a lie. IF YOU EXPERIENCE SOMETHING, THEN YOU KNOW IT'S THE
TRUTH, BUT THE SAME THING BELIEVED IS A LIE! Belief is
presupposition, prejudice.
But,
you say, we can't function without beliefs. Well, I agree that we
can't function without theories and ideas. We do need a mental
framework to help us interpret our experience of the world. But
ideas are not like religious beliefs, because we wouldn't claim any
certainty for them. They are working hypotheses – I call them
notions.
A
belief is a hardened notion, and a believer is someone who's
suffering from hardening of the notions.
(Laughter)
It's
an unfortunate limitation of language that lumps religious beliefs
and working hypotheses into the same word – belief.
You will no doubt continue to use the word,
belief, but don't let your notions harden into
beliefs. Make sure your notions are soft: you might have to eat
them. And treat your notions like relatives: entertain them, but
don't marry them.
Don't apologize for making the omlet ... just get on with it and to hell with those tho are too impatient for the meal that's about to come!
ReplyDeleteQuite frankly, I'm looking forward to the day where we can share a nice, quiet breakfast amongst friends in the great outdoors.
You speak the truth. It's so sad that so many drink the belief Kool-Aid.
ReplyDeleteHmm Randy. Having known me for some time, I wonder what you believe about my beliefs? :)
ReplyDeleteWayne: Funny--I was just thinking about you and your approach---Will address it in part 3.
ReplyDelete