Religious Naturalism
Religious Naturalism
by Lillie Mae Henley
Since human creatures gained conscious thought and acquired imagination, they have created
stories that answer that question, “How did we come to be?”
One story that is familiar is the Jewish creation story:
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth...
There is another creation story by Ursula Goodenough, a scientist, who shares her version of it in
The Sacred Depths of Nature:
In the beginning, everything that is now that universe, including all of its space, was concentrated
in a singularity, maybe the size of a pinhead, that was unimaginably hot (at least 100 plus 9 sets
of three zeros behind it) and unimaginably dense… it expanded very rapidly, carrying everything
… along with it.
During the first three minutes of this expansion, all sorts of high-energy physics took place that
yielded the current tally of subatomic particles in the universe, including protons, neutrons, and
electrons. Some of the protons and neutrons fused to form helium, and random clumps
developed in the expanding material so that it was not perfectly homogeneous…
A lot of physics took place and the Universe expanded and today it continues to expand. The
stars and the planets eventually formed, and then chemistry occurred and the building blocks of
life were produced. These building blocks …in Goodenough’s words
are thought to have accumulated in the waters of the new Earth from the time it was formed,
about 4.5 billion years ago, creating what is often called the “primal soup.”
In this soup were the small molecules … [that started] all forms of Earth life...
For our origins story, then two important points emerge. First, a system got thrown together,
apparently quite by chance... that is not at all left to chance. And second ... this system acquired
the ability to be copied and inherited. [L]ife emerged from nonlife.
Goodenough is part of a contemporary religious movement called Religious Naturalism. Religious
Naturalists remind us that
—we are part of Nature, no more or no less important than the billions of stars above or the
microbes in the soil beneath the leaves that blanket the forest floor beneath our feet.
—we are a product – a creation – of an overwhelmingly profound, unimaginable, creative process
of billions of years.
—we are interrelated to all other living species, we share common ancestors, and we share
genetic similarities, not only to large mammals but to the yeast in our bread.
—we have been blessed by this mystery to have conscious thought, creative imagination,
mobility, and abilities to protect ourselves in ways that other creatures cannot.
—we are as finite as any other creature
Religious Naturalists recognize that life is sacred because of the sheer improbabilities of
existence. And they remind us that life is sacred because of the certainty of extinction.
Lillie Mae Henley is the Minister at the Universalist National Memorial Church and Assistant Editor
of the UNIVERSALIST HERALD.
by Lillie Mae Henley
Since human creatures gained conscious thought and acquired imagination, they have created
stories that answer that question, “How did we come to be?”
One story that is familiar is the Jewish creation story:
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth...
There is another creation story by Ursula Goodenough, a scientist, who shares her version of it in
The Sacred Depths of Nature:
In the beginning, everything that is now that universe, including all of its space, was concentrated
in a singularity, maybe the size of a pinhead, that was unimaginably hot (at least 100 plus 9 sets
of three zeros behind it) and unimaginably dense… it expanded very rapidly, carrying everything
… along with it.
During the first three minutes of this expansion, all sorts of high-energy physics took place that
yielded the current tally of subatomic particles in the universe, including protons, neutrons, and
electrons. Some of the protons and neutrons fused to form helium, and random clumps
developed in the expanding material so that it was not perfectly homogeneous…
A lot of physics took place and the Universe expanded and today it continues to expand. The
stars and the planets eventually formed, and then chemistry occurred and the building blocks of
life were produced. These building blocks …in Goodenough’s words
are thought to have accumulated in the waters of the new Earth from the time it was formed,
about 4.5 billion years ago, creating what is often called the “primal soup.”
In this soup were the small molecules … [that started] all forms of Earth life...
For our origins story, then two important points emerge. First, a system got thrown together,
apparently quite by chance... that is not at all left to chance. And second ... this system acquired
the ability to be copied and inherited. [L]ife emerged from nonlife.
Goodenough is part of a contemporary religious movement called Religious Naturalism. Religious
Naturalists remind us that
—we are part of Nature, no more or no less important than the billions of stars above or the
microbes in the soil beneath the leaves that blanket the forest floor beneath our feet.
—we are a product – a creation – of an overwhelmingly profound, unimaginable, creative process
of billions of years.
—we are interrelated to all other living species, we share common ancestors, and we share
genetic similarities, not only to large mammals but to the yeast in our bread.
—we have been blessed by this mystery to have conscious thought, creative imagination,
mobility, and abilities to protect ourselves in ways that other creatures cannot.
—we are as finite as any other creature
Religious Naturalists recognize that life is sacred because of the sheer improbabilities of
existence. And they remind us that life is sacred because of the certainty of extinction.
Lillie Mae Henley is the Minister at the Universalist National Memorial Church and Assistant Editor
of the UNIVERSALIST HERALD.
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