Come On Down

[poliphilo]

A sci-fi fantasy I'm fond of- The Saga of the Exiles- predicates an alien intervention at the beginning of the 21st century (in fact, any time now.) The aliens- who are nice chaps- allow us the join their Federation, but on certain conditions. One of the conditions is that we abandon all but one of our religions.

And we do. Just like that.

How I wish. How I wish....

For some reason the religion we choose to retain is Roman Catholicism.

A certain leeway is allowed. People are permitted to flavour their Catholicism with Zen Buddhism or Hinduism or whatever they used to adhere to. But I don't remember there being any Muslim-flavoured Catholics or Southern Baptist-flavoured Catholics.

It's a silly book.

I wonder how long it's actually going to take us to get beyond our religious differences.
How many thousands of years.

Comments

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I raised his name in conversation with the jolly old bishop of Middleton and he said, "I don't read radical theology. I'm afraid it would shake my faith."

How sad, to smother oneself in "faith" like a child's blankie, when there is so much to explore and wonder about!

I have never heard of Cupitt, but I found Spong fascinating. And there was no one to talk with about it. He was considered "evil."

The single most influential writer for me was Stephen Mitchell, a Buddhist. I happened to see his book, "The Gospel According to Jesus," in a bookstore, and I usually don't buy stuff in that section, but I kept thinking about it and kept thinking about it, and finally drove back to the store and bought it. It led me to Rumi, to Eckhart, and to thinking for myself.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Cupitt fronted a TV series called Sea Of Faith, which caused quite a splash at the time. It documented how key 19th and 20th century figures- Darwin, Nietzsche, Freud, Jung et al- had contributed to the erosion of what Cupitt called the "realist" version of Christianity.

He was the inspiration for a (slightly hush-hush) organization for "unbelieving" clergymen. I spoke once (about Krishnamurti- then an enthusiasm of mine) at one of their "Sea of Faith" conferences.

These days Cupitt, like Spong, no longer makes the news. The theological debate (so far as I can see) has regressed and is all about whether God likes gays or not.