12 February 2023
Faith and Science Sunday
1 Corinthians 13:9-12
The visiting scholar asked us to engage a question at the intersection of faith and science. Essentially, it came down to this: what changes, if any, would be required of our theologies if life was discovered elsewhere in the universe, if there were extraterrestrials?
Now let me just start by saying that I am agnostic when it comes to extraterrestrial life. I have read explanations saying it is mathematically inevitable and others saying it is mathematically improbable, but most days I’m just focused on more mundane matters, like getting that last bit of toothpaste out of the tube… I never got to galaxy-level math in school.
But yes, life elsewhere in the universe would certainly challenge the claims of traditional Judeo-Christian theologies, that center this planet, this species, one single tribe of our species, and one household in that tribe.
It was a breakfast gathering for interfaith clergy at Kol Ami, and the conversation was lively and informed, until… Well, you know humans! We suddenly found ourselves being scolded by a store-front preacher for misusing the term “fundamentalist.” The term, according to him, referred to a desire to read and interpret scripture in the original or fundamental languages.
Those who know me well may be surprised and maybe even a little disappointed that I managed to keep my mouth shut, leaving this unchallenged, but everyone else at the table already knew it was untrue, and the one who said it, who was reprimanding the professional clergy at the table, wasn’t capable of hearing the truth.
The reality, the real reality, is that Fundamentalism took its name from a series of tracts published between 1910 and 1915, reprinted endlessly, and funded by the California oil baron Lyman Stewart and his brother Milton. They were the early 20th century version of David Green and family, the treasonous owners of Hobby Lobby and funders of the Jesus Gets Us ad campaign, for like Hobby Lobby, Lyman Stewart used religion as a cover for an agenda that ultimately served to protect his wealth and power.
The Fundamentalist tracts were written by conservative Protestant clergy. As far as I can tell, of the sixty-four authors, sixty-four were white, and sixty-three were male.
The project denounced anything that might offer an alternative way of seeing the world, that de-centered white males or privilege and power, things like the Social Gospel of our progressive Christian tradition, scripture scholarship and historic context in the interpretation of the Bible, organized labor, which Stewart considered socialism, and of course, science, especially Darwin’s articulation of natural selection and evolution.
From the start, Fundamentalism was at war with science, scholarship, truth, and justice. Things haven’t really changed.
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