Letters - 28 August 2015
From phlogiston to housing
Phlogiston and stuff
My thanks to Geoff Pilliner for a stimulating contribution to what he calls ‘the theism/nontheism debate’ (21 August). May I make two points in response?
First, ‘debate’ is surely the wrong word, suggesting as it does a confrontation producing winners and losers. That is not what Friends are engaged in. Theism and nontheism are different positions among Friends, and I suggest that the question under discussion is not which is ‘correct’ but whether our Society is big enough to embrace both positions – and those in between.
Second, Geoff urges us to ‘find new language’ to replace the words theology, theism and nontheism. But, if we are to embark on such a search together, we must take care to ensure that the new words we come up with clarify rather than conceal the real, honest differences that are likely to remain whatever language we use.
In our tender Quakerly concern to avoid any appearance of conflict, let’s take care not to end up with forms of words which fudge real differences of opinion, interpretation and experience. None of us want our Society to become a conservative church seeking, advocating and, eventually, enforcing conformity. Far better that we remain a liberal, inclusive Society embracing and celebrating our religious diversity. If we look for new language it should surely be language that plainly expresses confidence in our unity in diversity.
David Boulton
Geoff Pilliner’s erudite article may not have had the space to include theodicy (why God allows evil) but there is more to religion than a search to explain natural wonders. The ancients propitiated their gods through sacrifices and Jesus taught about ‘our Father in Heaven’ and the forgiving of ‘trespasses’, although worshipping such a ‘caring God’ had limits (sacrifices and forgiveness are meant to hurt).
During the English civil war literate artisans such as George Fox asked how a loving God could allow the obvious suffering surrounding them: indeed, the world ‘was turned upside-down’ and a generation of post-Reformation nontheists questioned the very existence of God. Why did God allow, in 2013, 6.3 million of the world’s children under five years old to die if each life is precious? (In 1990 about 12.7 million under-fives died.)
Nevertheless, searching for the real spirit experienced during Quaker worship moves Friends to relieve suffering – and others of many faiths or none are, thankfully, also moved. Although verbal formulations hinder our understanding of what motivates us, we should indeed try expressing it in the science (knowledge) of loving nonviolence and update our language – but with perhaps more elegant neologisms than ‘spiritology’, ‘nontheism’ and so on.
Frank Boulton
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