It seems very odd to me that I am both someone who sees the desperate need for a new kind of religion and can even imagine what it will look like, and also someone who knows that he is not the person to start one in any way, shape, or form.

I’m too much the rationalist for that.

Unlike other rationalists, however, I do not believe in some kind of grand revolution of reason that will sweep away all the “superstitions” of religion and bring in a new era of enlightened reason. That’s a notion more unrealistic than any dream of an afterlife or a global spiritual awakening. The truth is people need religion and that means it’s not going anywhere.

Most people are not cut out for a life of being naked before the void. They need the answers, the comfort, the connection, and the myriad other benefits of religion in order to get through the day. It’s easy for us liberal intellectual types to take the stand that we refuse to believe anything that is not logical or provable (although we’re usually full of shit on THAT, too).

But for the average citizen who just wants to get on with their normal life, the absolute truth cannot be their highest priority. They can’t afford to spend a lot of time pondering the eternal verities of life. They are too busy actually living their lives, and hence, the things they believe only need to be “true enough”.

All the rationalist rugged philosopher lifestyle is the very cold comfort of knowing you are, on some obscure level, “right”. And cold comfort alone is never enough.

Any new religion would have to take this into account. It would have to resist defining itself in opposition to reason while also providing that which reason alone cannot provide. It needs to offer warm comfort that comes from things like a feeling of community, a sense of connection to something greater than oneself, and a conviction that no matter what, there is a very powerful creature who loves us and will take care of us as a Cosmic Parent.

Perhaps some day, we will be ready for true adulthood, without any need for such a parent. But that will only come to pass if we evolve a religion that serves those same needs.

For they are human needs, and will be with us as long as we remain human. We will always need the comfort of feeling like there is someone strong and smart in charge of things. We’re social animals, and social animals need leaders.

We will always need to “belong”, to feel like we are part of a community, because it is that feeling that keeps a social animal’s social unit together. Without it, we would simply drift apart from one another and the social unit would never come into existence in the first place. It’s our need for belonging and community that causes us to band together on many levels, whether it’s churches, sports, workplaces, families, or fandoms.

We will always need nurturing. Communities care for their members, and that’s what makes them so strong. So we will always have a need both to care for and be cared for. Modern life does a lousy job of even acknowledging this truth, let alone meeting said needs. The altar of individualism demands that we give up all hope of being cared for past our adult years, as if our deep social instincts magically turn off at whatever arbitrary number of years we have decided means “adult”.

And the list goes on.

Any new religion needs to meet all these unspoken needs of ours. It’s not a matter of overthrowing the entire idea of religion, as if you can just rip it away from people and have them thank you for it. It’s a matter of taking what is good about current religions and bringing them together in one system of beliefs while eliminating the bad stuff that only hurts people.

So away with all the mindless sexual taboos. A new religion has to embrace human sexuality in all its forms, not try to suppress what it fears like a child. Ditto obscure dietary rules and other restrictions, and all forms of the “traditional ways of doing things” that interfere with people’s healthy expression of self.

Don’t get me wrong, traditions are necessary. But they must remain traditions only… not rules. When they become rules, forced upon generations who don’t understand them and to whom they mean nothing, they become toxic and no longer serve any function.

And it’s all so unnecessary. Traditions maintain themselves just fine. Nobody enforces Christmas, and yet most people in Western cultures celebrate it anyhow. Why? Because it’s what people do.

Another thing a new religion must do to be successful is to maintain a positive focus. Making people feel guilty does not work in the long run, especially when it it not counterbalanced by a clear and understandable way to go back to feeling good. In the long run, the best strategy is to be people’s source of whatever positive emotions they need to get through their day.

And what moral stance is taken (for this is another role a religion must fulfill, that of moral guidance), it should always be clear that actions may be bad but the people are not. Thus, moral error is seen as a temporary aberration and nobody ends up feeling like they are bad deep down.

Any new religion must also “fit” with people’s lives. That means a fair amount of flexibility must be built into it. I think there is still a very big place for a weekly worship ritual, where people come together to observe their faith. But this experience needs to be as relaxed and pleasant as possible. It should be a time of solace, an escape from the ordinary world. Not some sort of unpleasant ritual people endure out of a sense of compulsion rather than genuine desire.

Any religion that defines itself in opposition to reason and reality is doomed.

But one that accommodates it all might last thousands of years.

I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.