Posted on 03/31/2007 4:34:37 PM PDT by NYer
Non-Theistic Liturgy is an idea -- or is it a non-idea? -- whose time has come. At least so the scholars that make up the Non-Theistic Liturgy Resources Working Group would have us believe.
Or not believe.
Anxious to protect a good faith atheism against doubts of doubt, the Working Group gives us a version of the Lord's Prayer, without the Lord:
With revision, I can still pray as Jesus indicated we could:
My Creator (soul's Source, spirit's Destination, Ground of Our Being, etc.) in whom/which is heaven, or within which we can find heaven (as co-creators) we revere/respect you.
We will work to see your divine intent become a reality where we live.
We will work to see that everyone has the food they need to live and have health and energy to contribute to the welfare of Earth and its life systems.
We sense that we are forgiven for our admitted shortcomings to the extent that we art able to forgive others their failures.
We recognize the presence of evil in our world and strive to avoid being a part of it as well as pointing it out whenever we are aware of it.
We work for these changes in our lives and in the lives of others in the spirit of Jesus who cared for all those who were unjustly treated or oppressed.
May we make these things so.
The numerous parentheses, slashes, and alternative qualifications demonstrate the gloomy truth that losing one's faith does not necessarily free one from scruples. Somewhat pathetically, the Lordless Prayer is dated "Lent 2005" -- as if it weren't Lent all year round for these folks. And it would seem that, to a temperament predisposed to rigorism, unbelief can be a mistress as exacting as orthodoxy. The author of the oration above, the Rev. Dr. Charles Bidwell, beseeches us to grant him the following Nihil Obstat: "Note that at no time does this indicate a petition to an external force to intervene and do the work which only we can do." Noted. Duly noted.
At one point in his novel Put Out More Flags (a neglected gem, in my opinion), Evelyn Waugh gives a brilliant sketch of communist intellectuals huddled in a London garret at the outbreak of the Second World War. Dr. Bidwell would have been at home in their company:
There was a young man of military age in the studio; he was due to be called up in the near future. 'I don't know what to do about it,' he said, 'Of course, I could plead conscientious objections, but I haven't got a conscience. It would be a denial of everything we've stood for if I said I had a conscience.'
'No, Tom,' they said to comfort him. 'We know you haven't got a conscience.'
'But then,' said the perplexed young man, 'if I haven't got a conscience, why in God's name should I mind so much saying that I have?'
Amazing the lengths to which some will go to avoid the "Truth".
Just convert them to Alcoholism. With some practice one could become highly spiritual, flammable even.
THE UNITARIAN PRAYER
O God
(If there is a God)
Save my soul
(If I have a soul)
Festivus!
Midwest Conservative Journal has a good post about this.
I looked at the Non Theistic Liturgy site and am still laughing about it. Check out the " Winter Solstice Celebration of Darkness"
Litany
One: Darkness is a blessing.
Many: It helps me fall asleep.
One: Darkness is a blessing.
Many: Only when a seed is in the dark will it sprout.
One: Darkness is a blessing.
Many: Some of my best visions come when I close my eyes.
One: Darkness is a blessing.
Many: Only in the darkest parts of the country can I see the stars clearly.
One: Darkness is a blessing.
Many: It brings relief from heat as I cross a desert.
One: Darkness is a blessing.
Many: Only when it is really dark can our body produce the hormone melatonin which fights diseases.
One: Darkness is a blessing.
Many: Many animals thrive within the protective cover of darkness.
One: Darkness is a blessing.
Many: We developed in the darkness of our mother's womb.
All: Truly darkness is a blessing.
[Major lights in the room may be extinguished if there are some light sources for people to negotiate movement or lights may be dimmed.]
Oh yeah I can just imagine the hush of anticipation and the enthusiasm of the congregation as they recite this litany. At the end maybe they should rule a yule log down the church aisle and toss flaming fir branches into the pews.
LOL!!
Heighten our understanding of family, that your light may disperse our darkness...
Oh, that's so moving! It reminds me of Pat at his most didactic.
"Darkness is a blessing, Pat!"
"Only in darkness, James, can we go out with our telescope and observe the planet Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, which has at least 18 moons, one of which has its own atmosphere."
In fact, the whole thing sounds like a first-grade Sunday School composition.
"Darkness is a blessing, Pat!"
"Only in darkness, James, can we pull the drawers out of Bill's dresser until they form a staircase, climb up on top of the dresser, take everything off the shelves, take each electronic device apart, and push every button."
"Darkness is a blessing, Pat!"
"Only in darkness, James, can we sneak into the bathroom, get out the blue toothpaste that smells like cleaning solvent, and make interesting designs all over the counters and floors."
See, Alex?
This is why it isn't cool to fail to put satire labels: Reality is a lot stranger, and funnier, than Lark News; Lark News isn't so much comedy as simply things which are wierd but untrue.
I mean, come on, isn't this WAY funnier and wierder than Lark News?
I reached a point in my life, shortly after college, where I recognized that the God we were all talking about was not the same. I reading theological and philosophical literature, I realized that the two main perspectives were the deistic and theistic. Once I got that, it was easy for me to see the pitfalls of deism, which had more to do with ideology rather than theology. I recognized that I was indeed a theist. After that it was clear to me which road I had to follow.
May God have mercy! ... I knew an English teacher in college who raised to high position with the Episcopal Church, even helping to rewrite the Book of Common Prayer ... she would love this garbage were she still alive.
Your brilliant humor always raises my spirits! [Long Island Tea tonight ... I salute you]
They left a burning question mark on my lawn.
But it's not. It's from St. Stephen's College. (SAINT Stephen????. The protomartyr??? Please.) This fine institution of higher learning (cough, spit) is affiliated with The United Church of Canada. These fine folks are serious.
And this, my friend, is why I gave up reading fiction. Reality is so much stranger and more interesting.
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