Syntheism

Syntheism is a new religious movement focused on how atheists and pantheists can achieve the same feelings of community and awe experienced in traditional theistic religions. As such, The Syntheist Movement sees itself as the practical realisation of a philosophical ambition for a new religion dating as far back as Baruch Spinoza's pantheism in the 17th century and most obviously British-American philosopher Alfred North Whitehead's pioneering work towards a process theology in his books Religion in the Making in 1926 and Process and Reality in 1929.

Syntheism may also be viewed as a response to the lack in Western culture of atheistic and pantheistic belief systems while these are all the more abundant in Eastern cultures, for example as Zen Buddhism, Dzogchen Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and Jainism.



Etymology
Syntheism comes from the Greek syntheos (from syn- for with or creating with and -theos for god), implying that the proper approach to the concept of God is that humanity has created, creates or will eventually create God – as opposed to the traditional monotheistic view that God created the world and humanity.

Besides the activism of The Syntheist Movement, a syntheistic approach to philosophy and religion has also been advocated by American philosopher Ray Kurzweil in his concept of the forthcoming Singularity and by French philosopher Quentin Meillassoux in his idea of "God as a concept far too important to leave to the religious" in his book After Finitude.

Communities
Syntheism has an international Facebook community with 1,510 members, as of December 2014. Community events have been held in Sweden.



Notable works
Alexander Bard and Jan Söderqvist published Syntheism - Creating God in the Internet Age in October 2014. Spiritual naturalism is considered to be an American version of Syntheism.

Among the inspirations for Syntheism are the writings on a future atheology by French surrealist philosopher Georges Bataille in the 1950s.

Beliefs
Syntheism is the belief that the classic division between theism and atheism in theology has become redundant and must be overcome to fulfill contemporary and future spiritual needs, through the acknowledgement that all metaphysical beliefs center on a divinity or focal point which is man-made. Therefore all religious beliefs are man-made (and not only theisms, but also for example Individualism as developed by philosophers like René Descartes and Immanuel Kant) and may be so in the future too.

However, what is important is that these beliefs strengthen, and not contradict, science, and that they therefore are developed within a monist worldview (the conviction that there is one world and one world only, and that everything within this one world can affect everything else). In a more poetic vein, Bataille describes his atheology as “the art of non-knowledge”. He rather advocates a syntheist religion without a core set of beliefs. Participatory festivals with utopian themes such as Burning Man are considered examples of Syntheist practice.

Criticisms
Lack of central leadership and core beliefs have lead some to believe Syntheism will fail. The idea has also been criticised for a potential lack of mystery.