"Divine" Humanism
Countless threads connect us.
What we weave into those threads shapes us and the world we share.
I call this a kind of divinity:
Profoundly human, and yet more than any one of us alone.
I use the word divine to describe my humanism precisely because it is ambiguous. That ambiguity is an invitation to a space where people who experience the ultimate in different ways can join in community.
​Some experience the divine as God, Creator, Great Spirit, or mystery. Others speak of karma, interconnectedness, or the unfolding universe. For me, it names the vastness of existence itself: the beauty, complexity, and mystery of the natural universe, and our small but meaningful place within it. However we name these realities, many of us recognize the same human responses beneath them—wonder, awe, humility.
​
And sometimes fear.
​
That is the second ambiguity in the word divine. There is no promise it will be good or beautiful. I grew up with the stories of the Greek gods—capable of generosity and care, but also of pettiness and spite. Human-made divinities are much the same. They are shaped by love and compassion, but also by fear, hatred, and insecurity. Often at the same time.
​
Some forms of divinity draw us toward wholeness. Others tear us apart. We will feed both. We are only human after all.
This theology, then, is not simply about what we believe—it is about what we choose to nourish. It is a theology that keeps reminding us that, in the words of early Unitarian humanist Rev. John Dietrich, "we are responsible." Responsible for the harm we cause or tolerate, and responsible, too, for the hope, the possibilities, the joy, the beauty we bring into the world.
​
I seek to minister for, to, and with people in ways that nourish love, mutuality, and repair; that help tie back together what has been torn by fear, indifference, or harm; and that invite communities into practices that cultivate wholeness—for individuals, for congregations, and for the wider world.
Divine Humanism: What Do I Believe?
In this sermon, I wrestle with the good and the difficult in what being a humanist has meant to me, and how I came to embrace the notion of "divine humanism."​
"We are responsible..."
Rev. John Dietrich