Scattered Work

Articles of Faith

Amidst all the discussions about religion spurred by the “new atheists” (see here for an example), what I’m not seeing are plausible alternatives being proposed. Religions play a number of important psychological roles, from rites of passage to community cohesion to providing a support for individual identity formation. Think about the importance of holy ground (from A Pattern Language):

In all cultures it seems that whatever it is that is holy will only be felt as holy, if it is hard to reach, if it requires layers of access, waiting, levels of approach, a gradual unpeeling, gradual revalation, passage through a series of gates…. This layering, or nesting of precincts, seems to correspond to a fundamental aspect of human psychology. We believe that every community, regardless of particular faith, regardless of whether it even has a faith in any organized sense, needs some place where this feeling of slow, progressive access through gates to a holy center may be experienced.

Arguments about the logical or moral incoherence of theism are fine, but atheism won’t take hold in our society without some physical, ceremonial acknowledgment of the sense of mystery that goes hand in hand with human development. As Matthew Yglesias points out, these new atheists seem to be trying to build a cohesive atheistic movement; something that will be very hard to do without a positive belief system. The kind of people who want to join a movement that simply declares other movements stupid are not very fun to hang out with.

Take a look at these photos by Dave Jordano, who has been documenting storefront churches in Chicago. Think about the care and love that goes into these spaces. Then consider whether something like Religulous could actually play a nourishing role in anyone’s life. These atheists would be better off espousing a form of Buddhism than trying to build a movement around negation.

Tags: atheism, holy ground, Photography, psychology, religion