Creating Utopia: A return to eden or babel?

1. Creating Utopia: A return to eden or babel? Considering the implications of building a perfect society without God.

2. Session 6 Utopia: Civil religion - Part 1 (HUMANISM)

3. The framework of this study was laid out by Dr. Heiser in a presentation given at the 2013 “Future Congress” Conference. The title of the presentation was: “Thinking Theologically About the Utopian Impulse as a Perversion of the Judeo-Christian Worldview” It can be viewed on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/yl4wR-EW00Y

4. For more of Dr. Heiser’s work listen to his: “Naked Bible Podcast” http://www.nakedbiblepodcast.com Or visit his primary website at: http://drmsh.com

5. Overview • Group Exercise! • Humanity is driven to seek a religious experience. • Utopia Requires Citizens with Specific Characteristics • The Humanist Religion • Case Study: Robert E. Goss and Queer Theology (WARNING) • Redefining Christianity Through the Sexual Revolution

6. GROUP EXERCISE What needs do church and small group attendance provide for you ?

7. Humanity is driven to seek out a religious experience

8. “You stir us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you.” “Fecisti nos ad Te, et inquietum est cor nostrum, donec requiescat in Te.” –St. Augustine, Confessions

9. –Blaise Pascal, Pensées VII(425) “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”

10. Could utopian promoters use the “Religious impulse” for their own purposes?

11. –Robert N. Bellah; Dædalus, Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Winter 1967, Vol. 96, No. 1, pp. 1-21 "While some have argued that Christianity is the national faith...few have realized that there actually exists alongside...the churches an elaborate and well-institutionalized civil religion in America."

12. Utopia Requires CITIZENS with specific characteristics

13. A specific type of CITIZEN • Any utopian system requires citizens with specific attributes. • These citizens collectively provide embody the attributes Utopia needs to survive. • UNITY: each citizen is motivated towards the same goals as set out by (or for) the community. • INCLUSION: each citizen is involved and active within the community. • HARMONY: a sense of agreement and solidarity between each citizen within the community.

14. UNITY • Each citizen is motivated towards the same set of goals. • The unified resources of the community are significant and can empower change more effectively than individuals. • Negative influences that impact an individuals are less likely to impact a unified whole. • A unified community has less chaos introduced by individuals. • Unity promotes Inclusion and Harmony.

15. Inclusion • Each citizen is involved and active within the community. • Inclusion is a force multiplier because it allows for everyone to be working towards the goals of the system. • Inclusion assures that there are no citizens working against the system. • Discourages anyone from deviating from the “norm” because they risk being excluded. • Inclusion promotes Unity and Harmony

16. Harmony • A sense of agreement and solidarity between each citizen within the community. • Harmony ensures that no one perceives a difference between the utopian system that controls the community and the individuals that make up the community. • Harmony ensures that any deviation from the system is perceived by the community as negative, unreasonable, and possibly threatening. • Harmony promotes Unity and Inclusion.

17. Creating citizens with the desired characteristics

18. What is humanism? dictionary.com: (hu·man·ism) An outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems. • The supernatural and anything divine are rejected. • Humanity (or the individual) are functionally their own god.

19. humanism as religion • Any man-made utopian system will ultimately require some form of Humanism as its “State Religion”. • Humanism provides a source of UNITY, INCLUSION, and HARMONY. • Depending on the utopian system there may be a single form of Humanistic belief or multiple unified humanistic beliefs that are identical in their foundational beliefs. • If Humanism could be considered a substitute for religion then there would also be “denominations” within Humanism.

20. humanistic denominations Politically and Governmentally Focused Humanism Atheism Secularism Transhumanism Scientism Liberalism

21. humanistic denominations Spiritually Focused Humanism Esotericism Occultism Gay & Christian PolyProud Masonic

22. The humanist Religion

23. Godless religions • The Sunday Assembly • www.nyc.sundayassembly.com • The Church of Humanism • www.churchofhumanism.org • Humanist Unitarian Universalists • www.uua.org

24. –https://www.sundayassembly.com/story “The Sunday Assembly was started by Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, two comedians who were on the way to a gig in Bath when they discovered they both wanted to do something that was like church but totally secular and inclusive of all—no matter what they believed.”

25. The Sunday Assembly • From https://www.sundayassembly.com/story on 12/30/2017. The Sunday Assembly: • Is 100% celebration of life. We are born from nothing and go to nothing. Let’s enjoy it together. • Has no doctrine. We have no set texts so we can make use of wisdom from all sources. • Has no deity. We don’t do supernatural but we also won’t tell you you’re wrong if you do. • Is radically inclusive. Everyone is welcome, regardless of their beliefs - this is a place of love that is open and accepting. • Is free to attend, not-for-profit and volunteer run. We ask for donations to cover our costs and support our community.

26. The Sunday Assembly • The Sunday Assembly: • Has a community mission. Through our Action Heroes (you!), we will be a force for good. • Is independent. We do not accept sponsorships or promote outside businesses, organizations, or services. • Is here to stay. With your involvement, The Sunday Assembly will make the world a better place. • We won’t tell you how to live, but will try to help you do it as well as you can. • And remember point 1…The Sunday Assembly is a celebration of the one life we know we have.

27. –http://churchofhumanism.org/about/10-about/45-essence-of-generic-humanism.html–http://churchofhumanism.org/about/10-about/45-essence-of-generic-humanism.html “The uniqueness of the Church of Humanism lies in its theocentric religious naturalism. Since reality in its ideal form, reflects the humanist meaning of God, it is a God-concept that can be accepted by rational and scientifically thinking people.”

28. The Church of Humanism • http://churchofhumanism.org/about/10-about/45-essence-of-generic-humanism.html (12/31/2017) Amongst the various types of organizational and theoretical forms of humanism, the most essential attitude toward life rests on three pillars:  • Rationality- which means the development of the ability to think in terms of reality. It is the opposite of illusionary, fictitious thinking. • Love - which represents the major source of life and gives meaning to it. It includes compassion and social feeling and is the opposite of the widely prevailing religion of narcissism, sado-masochism and collective sacro-egoism. One of the prerequisites for developing a loving personality is a concept of wholesome functional human sexuality. • Intuitive Awareness - which is the ability to perceive correctly and reach correct conclusions without having the necessary facts at hand. Since life consists to a large extent of the unknown, intuitive awareness (intuition) is a precious faculty in humanist decision-making and growth. 

29. –https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/sources “As a tradition with radical Christian roots and many members from Jewish and Christian backgrounds, our liberal interpretations of the Bible bring inspiration and solace.”

30. Humanist Unitarian Universalism • Six Sources of Living Tradition (https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/sources) • Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life; • Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love; • Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;

31. Humanist Unitarian Universalism • Six Sources of Living Tradition (https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/sources) • Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves; • Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit; • Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

32. Humanist religions • What similarities do we see in all of these religions: • A rejection of typical Judeo-Christian religion. • A rejection of a monotheistic creator God. • Replacing God with mankind and/or nature. • Embracing experience over intellect while praising rationalism. • Using love and sexuality as synonyms, thus making sex (love) a virtue.

33. Redefining Christianity through the sexual revolution CASE STUDY: Queer theology WARNING many WILL find the following material upsetting

34. Biblical interpretation • Protestant Christians believe that the Bible should be read and taken at face value and within the context of being God’s written word. • Interpretation should be completed using an established Hermeneutic (method of interpretation). • Exegesis is the interpretation of scripture using the reading of the text within the context of the entire Bible and its historical context. • Eisegesis is the interpretation of scripture using the reader’s context. The reader’s worldview is used to interpret the text.

35. Exegesis vs. eisegesis EXAMPLE • Exegesis: Protestant Sola Scriptura • Protestants believe scripture alone is the source of truth and the only authority upon which we can be sure. • Eisegesis: Catholic Tradition • Catholics believe both scripture and Catholic traditions are authoritative sources of truth. Both are coequal. Scripture must be interpreted within the confines of Catholic tradition.

36. eisegesis and sexuality • When people make their sexual identity the foundation of their worldview, then everything they experience is interpreted through the lens of their sexuality. • When theologians interpret the Bible using the eisegesis of their sexual identity the result is a biblical interpretation radically different that we traditionally see. • This confusion can sound “christian” but lead to non-orthodox conclusions and warped views of what God is trying to communicate to His children. • The Bible comments on sexuality but sexuality isn’t the context.

37. eisegesis and sexuality • Many of us are familiar with ideas that some people feel are stated in the Bible: • David and Johnathan had a homosexual relationship (2 Samuel 1:25-26). • Jesus and John had a homosexual relationship (John 13:23). • Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene (pseudepigrapha, The Last Temptation of Christ, and The Di Vinci Code)

38. –Pim Pronk; Gay Biologist, Theologian, and Philosopher “To sum up: whenever homosexual intercourse is mentioned in Scripture it is condemned. With reference to it the New Testament adds no arguments to those of the Old. Rejection is a foregone conclusion; the assessment of it nowhere constitutes a problem. It obviously has to be repeated from time to time, but the phenomena as such nowhere becomes the focus of moral attention. It is never condemned in isolation but always in association with other major sins: unchastity, violence, moral corruption, and idolatry.”

39. Robert E. Goss • Grew-up as a Roman Catholic. • Ordained as a Jesuit in 1976 and left in 1978. • Received his Doctorate in Theology in Comparative Religion from Harvard University. • Taught at Webster University and currently teaches at Claremont School of Theology. • Dr. Goss is an activist in the LGBT liberation movement. • He and his husband are ministers in the United Church of Christ.

41. Books by Dr. Goss • Jesus ACTED UP: A Gay and Lesbian Manifesto • Take Back the Word: A Queer Reading of the Bible • Queering Christ: Beyond Jesus ACTED UP • Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct: Breaking the Silence of Sodom • The Queer Bible Commentary • Queering Christianity: Finding a Place at the Table for LGBTQI Christians

42. –Dr. Robert E. Goss “I describe myself as a Bodhisattva Christian, a hybrid spirituality whose primary roots are in Jesus Christ but a spirituality which also honors the spiritual path of the Buddha and his successors.”

43. –Dr. Robert E. Goss “Jesus evolved from a friend in childhood, to lover, and to the Queer Christ calling me out of the closet into the streets as an activist priest.”

44. “I trace my first unspoken words of physical attraction to the crucified Jesus, wanting to strip off his loincloth to gaze at his genitals. As a young prepubescent child, I remember trying to take off the loincloth of the crucified Jesus. As I reached puberty, I gazed erotically at Michelangelo’s Risen Christ, a nude sculpture in an art book in the library. I lusted after the figure of Christ, imagining him as the bearded hunk depicted by Michelangelo. Christ was an utterly desirable, bearded hunk, naked on the cross, and I entered seminary to find union with him and make love with him.” –Dr. Robert E. Goss as quoted by Dr. Michael Brown, A Queer Thing Happened to America, Pg. 344

45. –Dr. Robert E. Goss as quoted by Dr. Michael Brown, A Queer Thing Happened to America, Pg. 345 “Many gay Christians have imaginatively constructed a Jesus whom they found attractive. In the essay “Tongues United: Memoirs of a Pentecostal Boyhood” queer cultural critic Michael Warner writes, “Jesus was my first boyfriend. He loved me, personally, and told me I was his own.” Many gay Catholic youth have grown up on their knees, gazing erotically at the crucified Jesus with his genitals covered and secretly wanting to lift the loincloth and gaze erotically at those genitals.”

46. –Dr. Robert E. Goss as quoted by Dr. Michael Brown, A Queer Thing Happened to America, Pg. 347 “If Jesus the Christ is not queer, then his basileia [kingdom] message of solidarity and justice is irrelevant. If the Christ is not queer, then the gospel is no longer good news but oppressive news for queers. If the Christ is not queer, then the incarnation [God becoming flesh in the person of Jesus] has no meaning for our sexuality.”

47. –Dr. Robert E. Goss as quoted by Dr. Michael Brown, A Queer Thing Happened to America, Pg. 347 “…For queer Christians, erotic power is God’s empowering way of acting in the world….Sexuality is the practice in which God’s erotic power may be embodied, in which queer Christians find connectedness with each other, the oppressed, nature, and God.”

48. Case Study Wrap-up • Dr. Goss seems like a nice guy who is trying to make the world a better place. Surely he has good intentions and wants the best for everyone. • Dr. Goss is a well educated and intelligent man. • Dr. Goss has placed his sexuality at the center of his worldview. When he interprets the Bible and religions experience his sexuality is the primary driver of interpretation. • Faulty worldview has led to faulty conclusions. Instead of urging others to seek God for direction, Dr. Goss tells them to search their sexual urges and God will promote whatever they feel.

49. Summary • God made us with specific needs and drives that push us towards Him. • The utopian impulse warps those drives towards its own ends. • Religion is redefined or recreated to fit into a human institution of self-worship. • Religion, faith, and spirituality without God is nothing more than a self-serving hollow dance to make ourselves feel better.

50. For more of Dr. Heiser’s work listen to his: “Naked Bible Podcast” http://www.nakedbiblepodcast.com Or visit his primary website at: http://drmsh.com