That's not difficult to deduce.
“I think everyone believes in God in their own ways. To me, it means that all of us are connected, all of life is connected, and that we are all tied together.”
Or, in other words, he's an atheist.
Or a Buddhist
or both
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Why Bernie Sanders doesn't participate in organized religion
Why Bernie Sanders doesn't participate in organized religion
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That quote makes it clear he's a textbook pantheist.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe an panentheist. It's difficult to say without follow-up questions.
ReplyDeleteAs he's stated it, if existence and god are identical, then nothing transcends the universe.
The difference between a pantheist and an atheist is merely definitional. The atheist says "nothing transcends, therefore there is no god." The pantheist says "nothing transcends, therefore the universe is god." The distinction is immaterial. The only important part of those two statements occurs before the comma. I'm an atheist, but I have no argument against that form of pantheism, since it uses a different concept of god than the one I reject. They've simply taken an old word - "god" - and given it a new definition.
Bernie's statement - "All of us are connected, all of life is connected, and that we are all tied together” - actually gives no indication of what he believes. It's just noise. I can't conceive of anyone, from the most devout religious nut to the most hardened atheist, who could dispute that statement, because it is essentially a truism. What distinguishes us is the NEXT layer - does anything transcend all of that hippy-dippy interconnected life and all of the connected natural existence"? If the answer is "yes," you are a theist or deist of some kind. If the answer is, "I don't know," you're an agnostic. If the answer is "no," you're an atheist, dude. Gussy it up with any fancy terminology you like. Assign yourself to any sub-group of atheism that appeals to you, but you're a card carrying atheist.
The way Bernie has phrased his belief system is very elegant. Instead of belittling some people's beliefs, he has focused on the beliefs we all have in common, and made a statement that nobody can really dispute.
Of course, it is possible for pantheists to have deistic leanings. Some of them claim that there was a Creator who originally set it all in motion. To be honest, I don't know which camp Bernie falls into, so his pantheism may in fact hide a closet deist, but my best guess is that the dude is an atheist. And that is probably a positive thing in a leader. I'd rather have reason dictate our policies than superstition.