Elements of Religious Humanism

Religious humanism is a broad creedal framework that comes to life when nourished by particular ideologies, religions, and cultural heritages. A critical challenge for religious humanism is to open new ideological pathways that stimulate experimentation. While ideologies have unique characteristics, religious humanism assumes they draw substance and spirit from four basic sources or perspectives: rational/pragmatic, romantic, deist, and mystical wisdom. The first two are in the humanist tradition and the second two are in the religious tradition. All four philosophical perspectives keep changing, especially at their outer edges, which suggests that America’s ideologies are changing as well. But it is the mystical perspective that has the most potential for binding the wounds caused by social conflict if used in a nurturing way. The chapter ends with a model drawn from the mystical tradition that allows ideologs to see their beliefs in a new, more nuanced way. The model is then used to develop a mission statement for America and strategies for reexamining America’s core values.