America Needs A New Religion

Now, friends and neighbors, I present what America needs, what it has been waiting for, even if no one knew that they were waiting. A New Religion, a belief system that finally tells the truth and nothing but the truth, well, mostly. Here it is: The First Church of Who Knows.

Our belief system is about as simple as you can get. We don't really know much of anything. Well, you say, that's not true; we know lots. Think again.

We have a way of viewing the Universe within a set of limitations imposed on us by our bodies. We can't see like a hawk, hear like a bat, sense air motions like a cat does with its whiskers, feel heat like a snake, and we sure can't smell like a dog. Even with our finest instruments, we sense a limited world. This is proven by those big particle colliders. In them we see the paths particles take after collisions, but never the particles.

Even with what we perceive, we only see the World our brain creates. The brain uses sense data to construct a model of the World. As the Zen saying goes, 'do not confuse the moon with a finger pointing at the moon.' Our brains have limits, and further more, the brain's own mechanism limits our awareness to what is needed to survive. We are bombarded by a tremendous number of bits of sensory input each second. If we registered all of them consciously we would be hopelessly overwhelmed. If you doubt that, watch someone on their first acid trip. They are near helpless. This is because LSD puts that limiting function out of commission, temporarily. By the way, do not try that yourself. I strongly advise against acid use for a variety of reasons.

So, if we are aware of an incomplete World, we cannot say we know it. We have enough data to make some guesses, and no doubt, some are pretty good, but you cannot know with insufficient information. I will remind you that we thought we had a pretty good grip on electricity, until quantum theory showed up. Now, that seems far from settled.

As far as Theological matters go ( bet you wondered why I was calling this a religion), if you reject the picture of God as the Ancient of Days, the old man on the cloud keeping track of whose naughty and nice, you will have to admit that there isn't much you can say. Congratulate yourself because that is exactly the conclusion reached by such theologians as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. The Jewish mystics refer to God in his totality as ein Soff and say that as such, He is unknowable (my use of 'He' is simply a convention, gender does not apply). The Hindu teachers have students list the attributes of God and, to each one, respond, 'neti, neti, not that, not that.' This is because that which is beyond time and space is unknowable in that words, or even concepts, do not apply.

Some will say, 'God is Love,' and to those I will ask, have you ever actually read the Old Testament, a book in which God orders genocide at many points and in fits of temper takes the matter into His own hands at several points. For those of a New Agier point of view, please look at the World, with floods, fires, earthquakes, volcanos, and many, many viscous diseases. Look at the Universe full of  the thermonuclear burning of stars, the incredible explosions of super novas, the raw power that is constantly giving birth, and destroying.

To eliminate the confusion of theology, I propose we start a church where we finally admit that while there certainly is something awesomely powerful at work, we do not really have much of a clue about what that is. This way, we can get about the business of living. Our rituals are simple, have fun, any way you want that doesn't hurt others. Our sacrament, sharing. Our morality, be forgiving, as non-judgmental as is reasonable and  kind.

I think this a fine way to face the future. It eliminates all the stupidly violent fights we have over matters that no one has much clue about. We will in this Church have a God; I, myself am a firm believer, but we will be honest and, in the spirit of the Native Americans call this ultimate God, the Creator, the Great Mystery. I for one am going to stand by this belief until someone can answer for me the one great question, 'why is there something, rather than nothing.'

So join me, all who wish to be free from the shackles of divisive beliefs,  as members of the Church of Who Knows. We can meet in the chapel of Good Deeds, sing hymns from the books of Kindness and Forgiveness, and preach the word of Non Judgementalism. Then we can all have dinner and relax.