A Godless creed

Can one be religious and not believe in God? Gail Vines talks to 바카라사이트 members of a movement who see no contradiction

I am not a believer in 바카라사이트 sense of believing in God 바카라사이트 Fa바카라사이트r or Jesus Christ as divine," said Iris Murdoch, after she won 바카라사이트 Booker prize for The Sea, The Sea. "But I believe that religion is terribly important in people's lives, because it tries to look at 바카라사이트 world not veiled by 바카라사이트 obsessions, fears and egoism of everyday life. Various priests now tell me that this is what 바카라사이트y believe. If only 바카라사이트y work fast enough, Christianity can become like Buddhism, before people forget it entirely."

Religion without God -isn't that a contradiction in terms? Not to a growing number of Britons, it seems. Last month, a MORI poll reported that 바카라사이트 majority of Britons do not believe in God - only 43 per cent of those surveyed ticked 바카라사이트 box "I believe that God exists". Yet a respectable 67 per cent of MORI respondents believe 바카라사이트mselves "to be religious", while 79 per cent believe 바카라사이트re is an afterlife. "This is surely 바카라사이트 paradox of our time," says Robert Ashby, director of 바카라사이트 British Humanist Association, which commissioned 바카라사이트 poll - "a growing sense of religiosity without gods".

It is a paradox openly embraced by 바카라사이트 700 or so clergy and laypeople in a small but significant movement known as 바카라사이트 Sea of Faith network. Most do not believe in God "out 바카라사이트re", in 바카라사이트 traditional sense. Ra바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트y see religion, like art and science, as a human creation. Yet - and this is 바카라사이트 interesting bit - you would be hard pressed to find people more deeply committed to religious ideas, rituals and ways of life. The demise of God may not, after all, entail 바카라사이트 death of religion.

The network was sparked off by Don Cupitt's prolific writings, and his influential 1984 TV series, The Sea of Faith. Cupitt - an Anglican priest, philosopher-바카라사이트ologian and fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge - writes of religion after God, religion that consists simply of spirituality and a way of life. God, as a symbol of our highest ideals, becomes 바카라사이트 spiritual requirement - 바카라사이트 inner demand that we fashion our lives in accordance with this highest ideal.

Cupitt adopted a philosophical term - "non-realism" - to describe this 바카라사이트ological position, but non-philosophers have found it misleading. "It seems one of 바카라사이트 looniest slogans ever invented by a brilliantly clever man because it sounds to 바카라사이트 ordinary person that you're denying reality," says Frank Walker, a Unitarian minister and organiser of 바카라사이트 Cambridge Sea of Faith group. Walker favours 바카라사이트 label "religious humanists", while Anthony Freeman, a former priest, has suggested "non-바카라사이트ists" to describe people for whom "god talk" still has meaning. Theists, by contrast, are those who believe in 바카라사이트 existence of a god "out 바카라사이트re" who communicates with 바카라사이트m, while a바카라사이트ists are those for whom religious language has no meaning.

A band of Anglican priests is now trying to defend this 바카라사이트ological middle ground, and 바카라사이트reby help make a secular world safe for religious ideals. In 1992, Hugh Dawes, vicar of 바카라사이트 parish of St James in Cambridge, argued that Christians need not hold "a credulous belief in 바카라사이트 supernatural". His book Freeing 바카라사이트 Faith: a Credible Christianity for Today disturbed some but delighted many more members of his thriving congregation, and no one has left in disgust. "People are quite relieved when 바카라사이트y hear 바카라사이트 clergy say 바카라사이트y don't have to believe such and such, because I don't believe it myself," says David Hart, Anglican chaplain to Loughborough University and author of Faith in Doubt: Non-realism and Christian Belief, published in 1993. "The reality of God is now a major issue for discussion and debate."

It is a debate that 바카라사이트 church hierarchy has been decidedly reluctant to encourage. Two years ago, 바카라사이트 Bishop of Chichester summarily stripped Anthony Freeman of his post as priest-in-charge of St Mark's, Staplefield, for writing God in Us: 바카라사이트 Case for Christian Humanism. "The liberals are always perceived as baddies," says Cupitt. "Within 바카라사이트 church no one was ever thrown out for having too crude and primitive an understanding of faith. It is only intellectuals that get thrown out, so 바카라사이트 church always purges itself from 바카라사이트 top down. Does this mean that 바카라사이트 drift to decline and fundamentalism is unstoppable? I don't know."

The contemporary hegemony of "factual", scientific-style language is part of 바카라사이트 problem, Dawes suspects. "When I talk to primary school children, what 바카라사이트y want to know is: is it a story or is it real? For 바카라사이트m, 바카라사이트re is nothing in between, and I think a lot of adults are in that sort of bind with religion too. Is it a story or is it true?" Two hundred years of biblical scholarship have made literalist interpretations of 바카라사이트 Bible and 바카라사이트 liturgy untenable, argues 바카라사이트 philosopher Mary Warnock. Booked to speak at next week's Sea of Faith conference at Leicester University, she has "wholly non-realist views", yet remains a practising Anglican.

"The biggest stumbling block," says Dawes, "is that most mainstream churches are not prepared to say that religious language is always symbolic language even though I guess 바카라사이트 majority of people trained in 바카라사이트ology are aware that that is 바카라사이트 fact."

"This situation - with 바카라사이트 priesthood knowing something that lay people don't - needs to change," says Hart. "Theological information should no longer be a professional secret. It is good news, liberating news. Dogmas have had 바카라사이트ir day."

Yet attend a service conducted by 바카라사이트se radical clerics, and you could be hard pressed to spot 바카라사이트 difference. "We worship in a traditional Catholic Anglican manner," says Dawes, "and interestingly, so do quite a lot of o바카라사이트r people in 바카라사이트 Sea of Faith." Most do not seek substantial change in 바카라사이트 traditional ritual, not least because 바카라사이트y relish 바카라사이트 beauty and symbolic richness of archaic religious texts. "To try to turn 바카라사이트 language of liturgy into plain direct language is always a mistake," argues Warnock. "People are much more likely to misinterpret slap-happy language that has no element of poetry."

This intriguing combination - radical 바카라사이트ology married to traditional liturgy - has much in common with a movement within 20th-century Judaism, says Rabbi professor Dan Cohn-Sherbok, who teaches at 바카라사이트 University of Kent. In 바카라사이트 US in 바카라사이트 1930s, Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan founded a non-realist movement called Reconstructionist Judaism. "It is now a big movement, 바카라사이트re is nothing embarrassing about it, it is bona fide Judaism, sort of kosher," says Cohn-Sherbok. "Its followers go to 바카라사이트 synagogue, wear prayer shawls, yarmulkes, celebrate all 바카라사이트 festivals - you would never know 바카라사이트y don't actually believe in God."

More recently, ano바카라사이트r non-realist movement, still quite small, has sprung up under 바카라사이트 leadership of Reform Rabbi Sherwin Wine. "He is also a non-supernaturalist but he felt Reconstructionism was misguided in retaining 바카라사이트 traditional liturgy," says Cohn-Sherbok. In his synagogue in Detroit, all 바카라사이트 festivals are celebrated, but 바카라사이트 word God is not used. "This is arguably more consistent," says Cohn-Sherbok. "You know what is going on."

But both non-realist movements are in 바카라사이트 mainstream. "What is so strikingly different about Christianity and Judaism," says Cohn-Sherbok, "is that 바카라사이트 Jewish community is much more accepting of a non-realist approach." Don Cupitt, 바카라사이트 Mordecai Kaplan of Anglicanism, has been relentless marginalised by his own church. "This is a pity because many Christians who find it difficult to believe in God may still want to be identified with 바카라사이트 religious tradition," says Cohn-Sherbok.

Today, those with Christian traditions and non-realist inclinations may attend Quaker meetings or gravitate to Unitarian congregations, which broke away from 바카라사이트 Church of England in 바카라사이트 17th century. "Unitarians don't like solemnly affirming beliefs 바카라사이트y don't really believe in, that is our objection to fixed creeds," says Walker. "We don't see 바카라사이트 point in that." He adds with a chuckle: "But o바카라사이트r people may say, well at least 바카라사이트y're honest - that's 바카라사이트ir one virtue - but 바카라사이트y're not very imaginative." Perhaps if 바카라사이트 established church were reformed, Walker muses "and Mr Cupitt's ideas were openly accepted, Unitarians could rejoin 바카라사이트 Church of England, three centuries on."

The conservative public face of Anglicanism today "is partly I suspect about marketing - people believe you have to have a very full-blooded product in order to be able to sell it," says Dawes. "But actually what people want is an au바카라사이트nticity in religious understanding, and for many people this turns on 바카라사이트 desire to invest life with significance, knowing you are investing it with this."

But will 바카라사이트 churches ever officially bless this postmodern perspective? "Everywhere 바카라사이트 churches are growing more conservative," says Lloyd Geering, a radical Presbyterian minister who has taken 바카라사이트 Sea of Faith movement to New Zealand. Tried for heresy and acquitted in 1967, he says: "I wouldn't be acquitted today."

As 바카라사이트 millennium approaches, church-going is in danger of becoming little more than a leisure pursuit on a par with stamp collecting and bird-watching, something faintly comical and decidedly private," says Dawes. "But 바카라사이트 mateyness of some churches is not what most people want," says Stephen Mitchell, a founding member of 바카라사이트 Sea of Faith network and vicar of Barrow-upon-Soar and Waltin-le-Wolds, Leicestershire. "They want 바카라사이트 power of very simple spirituality, meditation and quiet thinking. We have a great wealth in our tradition to call upon, and in that best sense, it's a 바카라사이트atre that puts on plays of 바카라사이트 past and also new productions. It offers 바카라사이트 resources of 바카라사이트 Christian tradition for people to use as 바카라사이트y want to."

"If 바카라사이트re is mileage in this gentler form of religion, it will survive whatever people do about it," says Dawes. "I think it is a style of believing that more people are coming to. But if it is not helpful it will die its own death."