I was in Binghamton on Palm Sunday and attended three different religious services: a Baptist, a Congregationalist, and a ceremony at a public school that involved all the city’s faiths.<\/p>\n
The ceremonies were beautiful and profound and comforting; the religious leaders there were warm and welcoming; but the experience for me was also deeply awkward and even troubling.<\/p>\n
I grew up in a Fundamentalist church (my aunt used to try to predict my future using randomly chosen passages from the Old Testament) and was later an altar boy in the Episcopal church.<\/p>\n
I’m deeply read in the Bible and consider it a beautiful, even awe-inspiring work.<\/p>\n
(I also spent time in a Buddhist monastery in Malaysia and have been a passionate reader of other religious works.)<\/p>\n
But like more and more Americans (as many as 15% according to one recent survey) I no longer believe. <\/p>\n
I’m not a Christopher Hitchens type. I respect the rhythms and rituals of faith.<\/p>\n
But my own moral and philosophical compass no longer pivots around traditional ideas of divinity or faith or supernaturally inspired teaching.<\/p>\n
Which is why last week’s remembrances felt so awkward to me. I wanted very much to gather with other people. I wanted to honor the people who had died. <\/p>\n
I wanted to share thoughts about the complexities of human life and the painful realities that surrounded the death of those fourteen people.<\/p>\n
But I’ll be honest: I didn’t want to do it in the context of someone else’s mythology, no matter how beautiful and welcoming.<\/p>\n
If current trends continue and the number of secular Americans continues to rise, I think we may need to develop some new traditions. <\/p>\n
Not to replace the religious institutions and rituals — which are essential. But to create a public space for those of us who use a different sent of mental tools to think about the hardest things in life.<\/p>\n
Your thoughts? Post below…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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