Religious liberalism

Religious liberalism is a form of approach to religion which is critical, rationalistic or humanistic.^[1] It is an attitude towards one's own religion (as opposed to criticism of religion from a secular position, or criticism of a religion other than one's own) which contrasts with a traditionalist or orthodox approach, and it is directly opposed by trends of religious fundamentalism.

"Liberalism" is here used in the sense of classical liberalism as it developed in the Enlightenment era, which forms the starting point of both religious and political liberalism, but religious liberalism does not necessarily coincide with "liberalism" in its various contemporary meanings in political philosophy. Attempts to show a link between religious liberal and political liberal adherents have proved inconclusive in a 1973 study,^[2] Usage of "liberalism" in the context of religious philosophy began to be established in the first part of the 20th century; in 1936, Edward Scribner Ames wrote in his article 'Liberalism in Religion' "The term "liberalism" seems to be developing a religious usage which gives it growing significance… sharply contrasted with fundamentalism… [which describes] a relatively uncritical attitude." ^[3]

Religious liberalism is ultimately based in the attempt to reconcile pre-modern religious tradition with modernity. This project is, of course, contentious, and is challenged both by traditionalist religionists, who reject the idea that that tenets of modernity should have any impact on religious tradition, and by secularists, who reject the idea that implementation of rationalistic or critical thought leaves any room for religion altogether. Liberal Christianity is an umbrella term for the developments in Christian theology and culture since the Enlightenment since the late 18th century. It is now mostly mainstream within the major Christian denominations in the Western World, but is opposed by a movement of Christian fundamentalism which developed in response to these trends, and also contrasts with conservative forms of Christianity outside of the Western world and the reach of Enlightenment philosophy and modernism, mostly within Eastern Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church in particular has a long tradition of controversy regarding questions of religious liberalism. Cardinal John Henry Newman, for example, was seen as moderately liberal by 19th-century standards because he was critical of papal infallibility, but he was still explicitly opposed to "liberalism in religion" because he argued it would lead to complete relativism.^[4] A similar argument was voiced in the 20th century by (Anglican) Christian apologist C. S. Lewis, who argued that "theology of the liberal type" amounted to a complete re-invention of Christianity and a rejection of Christianity as understood by its own founders. ^[5]

Alongside the development of liberal theology in Christianity, the reform movement in Judaism began to incorporate critical thought and humanist ideas into Judaism from the early 19th century. This resulted in the Jewish denominations now grouped as Progressive Judaism; progressive Judaism has split into various sub-denominations since the late 19th century, all more liberal than Orthodox Judaism, but spanning a range from moderately liberal (Conservative Judaism) to ultra-liberal (Reform Judaism (North America) and Liberal Judaism (UK)).

While Christianity and Judaism in the western world had to deal with modernity since its emergence in the 18th century, or even since the Renaissance and its consequences of Reformation and Counter-Reformation, Islam along with Jewish and Christian traditions in the Middle East was not immediately affected by modernity and Enlightenment thought. Such liberal movements within Islam as there are today are mostly limited to intellectuals active in the western world, with a number of organizations founded in response to the Jihadism of the early 21st century, such as Progressive British Muslims (formed following the 2005 London terrorist attacks, defunct by 2012), British Muslims for Secular Democracy (formed 2006), or Muslims for Progressive Values (formed 2007).

Similarly, eastern religions were not immediately affected by liberalism and Enlightenment thought, and have partly undertaken reform movements only after contact with western philosophy in the 19th or 20th centuries. Thus, Hindu reform movements emerge in British India in the 19th century, and Buddhist modernism (or "New Buddhism") arises in Japan as a reaction to the Meiji Restoration, and is again transformed in the United States from the 1930s, notably giving rise to modern Zen Buddhism.

See also

• Secularism
• Post-theism
• Liberal Christianity
• Post-Christianity
• Secular Judaism
• Unitarian Universalism (liberal religion)
• Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society
• Creativism

References