Letters - 07 February 2014
From spiritual connotations to the first world war
Spiritual connotations
Our Friend Peter Bolwell asks if we could ever convince ourselves ‘that the expression “nontheist” carries or implies any spiritual connotation whatever?’ (24 January).
However, ‘Nontheistic religions are traditions of thought within religions, some otherwise aligned with theism, others not, in which nontheism informs religious beliefs or practices. Nontheism has been applied to the fields of Christian apologetics and general liberal theology, and plays significant roles in Buddhism and Hinduism…’ (Wikipedia).
Surely no-one would argue that Buddhism and Hinduism have no spiritual basis? The Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said: ‘We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.’
Laurie Andrews
Peter Bolwell and several others in the Friend in recent months have equated nontheism with a lack of faith or spirituality: Buddhists are nontheists. Buddhist organisations have no difficulty being recognised by the Charity Commission as religious organisations. Would anyone suggest that the Dalai Lama is not a great spiritual teacher, or that Buddhism does not carry ‘any spiritual connotation whatever’? I would ask people to please be careful about making assumptions regarding other people’s spirituality. There is clearly a difference between nontheists and atheists or people who have no spiritual beliefs/practices.
Rachel Howell
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