We live in a world that we now know is billions of years old. We live in a universe that we now know consists of billions of other planets circling billions of other suns like ours. We now know that our bodies are made up of billions of cells, each one a complex ecosystem of interacting organelles and molecules that themselves are comprised of swirling clouds of atomic and sub-atomic particles interacting with each other according to basic chemical and physical laws.
We now know that the unfathomably vast expanse of the universe was once a single point in time and space, and that the incredibly intricate complexity of all that now exists on this earth also can be traced back in time, ultimately to that single point of origin. We don’t really know what all that means, but at the very least, what it means is that all our traditional concepts of God are at best inadequate, and in all probability, wrong.
Pretheism begins with the scientifically-based assertion that all complex forms of existence in this universe have evolved from less complex forms of existence. If we understand God as a form of existence that is above and beyond the human form of existence, it follows that such a God too must evolve.
Atheism, which denies any possibility of God, can only explain religious experience as a form of mental delusion. “Pretheism,” by contrast, does not deny the future possibility of God, and thus can interpret religious experience as something very real that people experience – not of an eternal, pre-existing God, but of a God who is emerging and evolving right in front of our very eyes.
“That of God” from a pretheist perspective
“Kingdom of God” from a pretheist perspective
“Son of Man” from a pretheist perspective
Peace and Justice – Our Testimony and Our Calling
In radical Quakerism, there is no separation between church and state – our politics and our religion are one and the same. To live our truth and to live the life we are called to live means to engage with the world around us, to work for the things we believe in and to challenge that which stands in the way of those things.
We believe that God calls us to work for peace and justice, for a world that treats every human being with the dignity and respect they deserve as equally human and equally precious. We oppose war and violence because they violate the sacredness of human life. We oppose injustice and oppression because they deny and denigrate the humanity in us all.
For radical Quaker pretheists, we take this calling one step further, and understand our testimonies to peace and justice as the means by which we will bring about the reign of God on this earth, and birth God him/herself!