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Some time ago I was corresponding with a Catholic priest about something or other, and almost as an aside he drilled down on what my theology was. I replied \u201cI\u2019m a \u2018liberal Buddhist<\/a>,\u2019 which is a subset of the tradition of \u2018liberal religion.'\u201d<\/p>\n He replied how he was confused how a political position can be collapsed into a religious term.\u00a0I replied that \u201cliberal religion\u201d is a term of art, which dates back several hundred years. \u201cLiberal\u201d in this sense means anti-supernatural and specifically, rationalist. And, so, to be clear my \u201cliberal religion\u201d is synonymous with \u201crational religion.\u201d The assertion also implies a certain universalist<\/a> inclination, in the modern sense of \u201call religions contain truth<\/a>.\u201d So, generally liberal religion is this-worldly, rational, and is universalist.<\/p>\n He grumbled a bit about Protestants, but mostly in good spirits, I thought.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been sitting with that exchange for a while now. While my characterization is accurate, historically, I do think it can be misleading, and it could use some tweaking.<\/p>\n For one thing I found an article at Wikipedia that uses the term liberal religion to stand for the contemporary and lovely mess that is Unitarian Universalism<\/a>. I had to go to \u201creligious liberalism<\/a>\u201d to find a more historical statement at Wikipedia. Although I did find a nice Britannica article called \u201ctheological liberalism<\/a>.\u201d I also found a list of articles at the Huffington Post categorized as \u201cLiberal Religion<\/a>.\u201d Including, I noticed when I went to it, several by me.<\/p>\n For \u201crational religion\u201d I had to go to the bottom of the second page of google results before finding anything directly relevant to what I\u2019m talking about here. So, a historical term, for sure, but lost to common usage.<\/p>\n In this era of the spiritual but not religious, while I am sympathetic to liberal religion being synonymous with Unitarian Universalism, I hope we also might reclaim that use of liberal religion in a more narrow sense of this worldly, rational, and universalist. Now, liberal religion might stand alone, and I\u2019ve met a couple of religious studies academics who seem to fit that bill. Although, I\u2019ve mostly seen it applied as a subset of another tradition. Hence my \u201cliberal Buddhist,\u201d or to be most accurate, \u201cliberal Zen Buddhist.\u201d And, among my friends, many are what I\u2019d call \u201cliberal Buddhists,\u201d \u201cliberal Christians,\u201d and \u201cliberal Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n No doubt there are others within the world\u2019s faiths, particularly here in the United States with a not always-observed but still written right into law protections for holding any religious view at all right up to and including rejecting all religion.\u00a0Out of that lovely and not always fun mess the possibilities of liberal religion has asserted itself.<\/p>\n It really annoys a lot of people. So-called \u201ctrue believers,\u201d those who hold fundamentalist or simply exclusivist views of their religion despise religious liberals. Heretics are pretty much always hated more than infidels. And, also, the contemporary atheist community, at least at the polemical end, also really, really do not like religious liberals, as the balance of their arguments against religion are based upon the most fundamentalist versions of particular faiths. They will even go so far as to assert with the fundamentalists, liberal versions of a given religion are not the true versions. Irony dancing with irony\u2026<\/p>\n I offer a different view.<\/p>\n The world\u2019s religion are a treasure trove of immeasurable wealth. But, to sort through the dross and to find the gold we need to bring a bit of skepticism to the search. Look for the teachings that don\u2019t obviously defy the world described within the scientific endeavor. Use the brain that god gave you. And, most of all look for the light of care and connection that births the universalist hope, love for the world and the great mess.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the true heart of liberal religion.<\/p>\n And, I\u2019m so grateful to have found it. I believe it might even save the world.<\/p>\n