Beyond Religion

Former Episcopal Bishop John Spong, in his new book, "Eternal Life: A New Vision", makes some interesting comments about religion. He sees religion as a stage which must be transcended.

"Our ultimate destiny was never to be religious human beings, as we once thought; it was simply to be fully and totally human. Religion, that activity to which we once entrusted our destiny, is now revealed only as a stage of life that had to be transcended before we could discover our destiny. Humanity is not alone, as we once thought, separated from God and thus in need of rescue. We are increasingly aware that we are part of what God is and we are at one with all that God is. Suddenly it made sense to me that the ancient name of God found in the Hebrew scriptures was part of the verb 'to be'. God, the great 'I Am', blends with the 'I am' affirmations that each of us must make on our journey into self-understanding....For God is ultimately one, and that means that each of us is part of that oneness."