Metatheism

[Slander and/or Libel]

From what searches I've done, this term is already in use in some places, but it's not well-defined, so I'm co-opting it for my own use.

I've been an atheist (weak atheist, strong agnostic) for the last 10+ years. My wife is a Catholic. It's been somewhat of a bone of contention between us, especially when it comes to how we plan to raise our children. I used to be a lot more hardline on the evils of religion, but I've softened quite a bit on that front.

Last weekend my wife and I took our kids to the local United Church of Christ as a compromise. They're very liberal, and the sermon was something that would likely make fundamentalist heads explode to hear. As I recited the words of the Apostles' Creed in the program, I started to recontextualize what "I believe" means. The church and its members are of like mind with me and my wife on their aims for the world. They view the world through this particular lens, of faith, through the story of the Bible.

When I said those words, "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only son, our Lord," I struggled, because I don't really believe in that, factually. But I realized that I believe in what that story represents to these people, and I believe that I can find and share meaning in that. I'd still say I'm an atheist, but I've come to the point where I think whether or not God exists is a less interesting question than what the story about God impels you to do in this world.

I'm calling it metatheism, in my head, because for me it's dressed up in the trappings of theism, but not really concerned with (in my view) uninteresting questions of existence or nonexistence. Has anyone ever heard of something like this or thought this way before?

[Slander and/or Libel]

I'm not sure. I'm not viewing it spiritually so much as practically. The church that we went to is quite liberal and active in justice movements of various sorts all over the place, and that appeals to me. If you want to define "spiritual" very broadly, then I suppose so, but I think that would water down that word so much to make it almost meaningless.

[Slander and/or Libel]

It's poised to be a practice for me, and not a religion. Sure. I guess what I feel like that doesn't capture is the idea that since my ends wind up coinciding with the ends of these other folks, even though I don't embrace their religion in the way they do, I can join with them in it, and get something out of it as well, as a story (by which I don't quite mean the Bible as literature, but more like the story about the Bible that this group tells, which leads them to their concrete goals).

[Slander and/or Libel]

Yeah, basically. I'm coming at it from a different motivation, but I'm also tired of the same adolescent atheist arguments about the existence of God. I'm going back to the church tomorrow, and I'm wondering about the tension if I am vocally a non believer (in the facts of the existence of God) but simultaneously a believer (in the goals of this particular church in the world), and I'm wondering if I can effectively come to appreciate this lens through which they arrive at those goals on my own terms.

[Slander and/or Libel]

I don't know that I think my children "need God," but my wife is religious and this has felt to me like a good compromise.

[Slander and/or Libel]

I appreciate that perspective. I did feel like I got something out of the service last week, even apart from just the community aspect, and I'm looking forward to going this week. I think stories are powerful tools to build frameworks for real good around, and I can get behind this story in the way that these folks tell it.

[Slander and/or Libel]

It's not a moderate hero position. I'm not saying the truth lies between Jesus existing and not existing. I happen to think he didn't. This is a practical compromise between me and my wife, and me trying to see what I can get out of the whole thing at the same time.