3059 Exploring the Concept of Religious Naturalism

Presenter: Prof. Ursula Goodenough

Prepared for UUA.org by: Mike McNaughton, Reporter; Jone Johnson Lewis, Editor

There was standing room only as Prof. Ursula Goodenough explained the principles of Religious Naturalism to a crowd of more than 150 people. An experienced professor of biology, Dr Goodenough told us what she was going to say, then she told us, and she concluded with a summary of what she had told us. Finally, in response to requests from the audience, she provided a pdf copy of her presentation. The following text should be viewed in conjunction with her slides .

She began by defining the key concepts of religion, nature, and religious naturalism (Slides 1-3). Slides 4-6 tell our creation story. In the beginning, 13.7 billion years ago, was the Big Bang. As the universe expanded, subatomic particles became atoms, first hydrogen, then all the elements of the periodic table, which were synthesized in the earliest stars. Some of these stars became supernovas, scattering all these elements into space. We and our planet are the recycled products of these early supernovas. We are truly made of star dust.

Slides 4-5 show galaxies, 200 billion of them with an average of 200 billion stars in each. One of these galaxies (Slide 6) contains our planet, which formed 4.7 billion years ago. The origin of life on our planet is posited to have been in the deep sea vents, about 3.8 billion years ago. This unknown ancestor of all life split into three branches about 3 billion years ago (BYA): the bacteria, the eukaryotes, and the archea. Although the bacteria are far more numerous, we will follow the branch of the eukaryotes to satisfy our own special interest (Slide 8).

The lower part of slide 9 shows the animals, in which we have a particular interest. The concentric circles represent steps of 100 million years (my). After almost 800 my, homo (a.k.a. human) evolved from the apes (Slide 9). This was only 6 my ago, almost no time compared with the previous 3 billion years of evolution. The common ancestor of all present-day humans lived in Africa , 160,000 years ago (Slide 10).

Religious naturalism is our response to this story (Slides 11-13). A key concept is "Emergence" in which something ordinary becomes "something more" (Slide 14). Although what precedes it is "nothing but" a simple entity, "something more" emerges. For example, from "nothing but" water molecules, there emerges "something more," such as surface tension or a snowflake (Slide 15).

Emergence in biology is called a trait, and because of the special properties of DNA, it is far reaching. The trait is encoded in DNA, and so remembered and transmitted to posterity. Mutation of DNA and natural selection together lead to evolution.

For example, awareness emerges. Photoaxis is a form of awareness (Slide 16). A light signal (at the top of the picture) causes a response in a flagellum (right) and the cell moves toward the light; it is aware. Such awareness is essential to life and allows it to negotiate its environment.

Awareness evolved into greater complexity. Cellular awareness became neural awareness, then brain-based awareness, social awareness, and finally self awareness (Slide 21).

The remaining slides lead us toward religious naturalism. As an educator, Prof. Goodenough can only lead (educate) so far. Now, we need to do our homework. (Prof. Goodenough's office hours were at 6 PM, see Slide 28). Reading assignments may include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mary Oliver, or Annie Dillard, as well as the authors listed on Slide 30.

From this point, it is up to us to develop our own UU religious naturalism. The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) and its Religious Naturalism interest groups (IRASRN) are resources. An IRASRN listserv has been established by Ted Laurenson edwin.c.laurenson@bakernet.com and Joan Goodwin.

Prof. Ursula Goodenough: ursula@biology2.wustl.edu

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