Pantheism

Pantheism : 

Richard Dawkins, in his book The God Delusion has in his typically dismissive way, described pantheism as ‘just sexed-up atheism’. But pantheism goes further than being simply hip; it adds to atheism an embracing, positive and reverential feeling about life on Earth, our place in nature and the wider universe while using nature as the basis for dealing with stress, grief and bereavement. It’s also a form of spirituality that seems to be totally compatible with science. Indeed, since science is one of the best ways of exploring the universe, respect for the scientific method and fascination with its discoveries is an integral part of world pantheism today.

So is this what Carl Sagan was talking about when he said the future of religion was yet to dawn — a future which would be more reverent, relevant and awe-inspiring than conventional faith has been able to evoke so far? To answer that, we may have to consider first why the greatest scientists who have ever lived have not been absolute atheists. Is it possible that they see in creation an intelligent design which they’ve not immediately foisted on an intelligent designer, but have wondered instead if the mystery of the universe is that it’s capable of designing itself intelligently?

Alfred Russell Wallace — co-discoverer along with Charles Darwin of the theory of evolution — wondered about something like this. He didn’t particularly think there was a god operating in and out of the small details of living systems, but that living systems themselves were capable of intelligently designing complex operations and forms.

A Fox News commentator in America probably summed it up best in 2004 when the world’s most celebrated atheist, Antony Flew, relinquished his unbelief for pantheism at the age of 81 after studying the structure of the human chromosome: “He found it too masterly to remain an atheist any longer, yet not magical enough to topple him into unabashed belief.”

Om Namah Shivay