Earth before Church
The phrase tribal religion is more likely to send your mind to a remote area in the jungles where half-clad people engage in arcane religious practices such as animal sacrifice and idol worship.
We will never consider ourselves, 21st century occupants of so-called civilized nations, as members of tribes that perform such primitive religious practices.
Today, a priest standing behind an altar in a modern cathedral, offering the sacrifice of the Mass, eating the body, and drinking the blood of Christ will not be remotely thought of as primitive or tribal. Think again! The truth is that all organized religions are tribal, at least in their thinking.
It is tribal thinking that prompts religious leaders to proclaim that their religion is the right religion and followers of other religions are on the wrong path. The divisions in Christianity, which have resulted in the pernicious proliferation of more than 40,000 different denominations is the consequence of tribal thinking. The Catholic Church was explicitly tribal until the Second Vatican Council in 1962: until then, they taught that “outside the Church there is no salvation.”
Tribal thinking bordering on hubris was evident when the draft was being developed for the Earth Charter by the United Nations from 1994–2000. The Earth Charter is an international declaration of fundamental values and principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century. The Charter “seeks to inspire in all peoples a sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family, the greater community life, and future generations.”
Conservative Christians known as the Religious Right in the United States did not support that document alleging that it smacked of socialism. Pope John Paul II did not endorse the Charter despite a direct appeal from Mikhail Gorbachev, a chief protagonist of the Earth Charter. Among other things, the Catholic Church objected to the capitalization of the word Earth in the document.
I was shocked when I read about it in a book called Dark Green Religion by Bron Taylor. The Vatican apparently feared that capitalizing Earth would make it equal to or more important than the Church.
They also apparently forgot that if there was no Earth, there is no Church! It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the Earth existed before the Church, and that Earth will outlast the Church in a climate catastrophe. The thinking that the Church is bigger than the Earth is misguided, misinformed and childish. The notion that an apparently atheistic Gorbachev was more Christ-like than the avowedly Christian pope was appalling to me.
As an apology for that religious hubris and admiration for Mother Earth, I have capitalized the word Earth throughout this book. I am inspired by Gorbachev’s earthly spirituality expressed in these words:
“I believe in the cosmos…nature is my god. To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals.”
Writing this book has made me realize that as a member of a church, I have been living a childish life — as the child of a lesser god — inhabiting an environment incubated with religious fear and guilt. From a cosmic vantage point, the pews in a church look puny compared to the vastness of the Earth. The sanctuary seems ornate compared to the overwhelming magnificence of planet Earth. The preaching sounds stale, and sectarian compared to the vibrancy and diversity of the planet. Theology often comes across as trite, trivial, and tribal, grossly inadequate to capture the amazing breadth, depth, majesty, and mystery of an awesome God.
If global thinking is deployed as our default setting, the dividing wall between Church and State can be demolished. The anathema against discussing religion and politics can be abolished. Global thinking could temper and even eliminate religious tensions, rivalries, and violence thus making religions even unnecessary.
I needed to leave behind my religion that was confounding, controlling and complex, and move towards a spirituality that is all-encompassing yet simple, mysterious yet sensible, and stunningly sensory — an Earthly spirituality. The divine consciousness underlying the mysteries of the Universe is palpable to me. A sense of delight, devotion, and appreciation for the natural processes makes me feel more connected and grounded. It is a graduation from traditional religion rather than a degradation of it.
John Burroughs has better words to express how I feel:
“The forms and creeds of religion change, but the sentiment of religion — the wonder and reverence and love we feel in the presence of the inscrutable universe — persists… If we do not go to church so much as did our fathers, we go to the woods much more, and are much more inclined o make a temple of them than they were.”
(from Cosmic Kindergarten: Earthly Lessons for a Heavenly Life)
