Rating System | Links | Key to Abbreviations of Contributors
The web is a helpful resource but quite confusing at first so a bit of guidance never goes astray. That's what a links page does. Below I first explain the rating system used to describe the overall quality of a website. Then come the links themselves. There is no topical organization but the higher ranked sites are listed at the top. Sites as yet unranked might be quite good but they are listed at the bottom anyway. Finally, I explain the cryptic abbreviations following annotations, which refer to the fine people who have contributed web links, annotations, and ratings for sites related to religious naturalism.
The four-halo rating system is utterly objective, of course, but may need to be explained so that all of the universally applicable judgments expressed by its use are not merely announced (the cosmically important outcome) but also understood (we, too, are slaves to our pedagogically driven, bodhisattva-like compassion). The explanation may be somewhat technical but we ask you to bear with our attempts to break open web-centric phenomenological categories for the wider public.
| Rating | Meaning | Deeper Meaning |
 |
! | Inexpressible;
transcending all categories of moral and aesthetic judgment; a genuinely irrational achievement; apophasis inducing |
 |
Wow! | Sartori is at
hand, so close you can almost taste it; the dew drop is about to slip into the shining sea to become one with all other water droplets |
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Bad! | Ananda down
under—which is the highest web- based quality permitted in Australia for public safety and medical reasons |
|
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Not bad! | Joy of the
regular sort; no bright lights or angelic visitations but a warm and happy feeling, at least for the most part; could be happier |
|
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Mmmm... | Quotidian
neutrality; the quintessential opposite of bipolar dynamism; the ordinary, easy-paced day off work with nothing much to do except nap |
|
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Well... | There is no
there there; there is no soul there either; in fact, there is not even any no-soul there; more meditation is vital, and urgently! |
|
|
! | Inexpressible;
transcending all categories of moral and aesthetic judgment; a genuinely irrational achievement; apophasis inducing |
Halo Rank: 4 | 3.5 | 3 | 2.5 | 2 | 1.5 | 1
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Art by ??; from here. |
Forum on Religion and Ecology.
Described as “the largest international multireligious project of its kind,” the
Forum is devoted to exploring world religions in the context of our current
ecological plight. With a clear focus on creating comprehensively
interdisciplinary dialogue, information relevant to religion and ecology is
available in a range of areas, secular and spiritual alike. Secular fields
include science (e.g., marine biology, cosmogony, consciousness studies, climate
change, emergence theory), economics, gender studies, and others; spiritual
fields include Jainism, Indigenous, Shinto, Confucianism, and the big ones (most
of the religious material is drawn from the associated World Religions and
Ecology book series). Alongside this information, a dizzyingly extensive
bibliography of books, journals, and mass media is available for further
exploration, while a section for educators offers syllabi and suggests other
resources such as educational videos. [IC]
Institute on Religion in an Age of Science.
This site includes a general discussion group and a group focused on Religious
Naturalism. These consist mainly of IRAS members but, by clicking on “IRASRN” in
the Activities/Discussion Groups area, one may apply for inclusion via
groups.yahoo.com. The religious naturalism group (IRASRN.net) is described as
“currently pretty inactive”. But, the all-IRAS listserv provides active e-mail
conversation in which naturalism is regularly discussed. With regular tangents
and occasional quibbles, misinterpretations, and hurt feelings, this site
includes drawbacks that are common in discussion groups. But, with regular input
from respected authors (including Ursula Goodenough, Philip Hefner, and Michael
Cavenaugh) and thoughtful submissions from other contributers, this group offers
a rich forum for hearing thoughts and sharing ideas with people who have great
interest and insight in religious naturalism. [TBM]
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Artist unknown. |
Darwin Song Project. This is
the information and distribution site for the fruit of a collaborative effort of
eight American and English folk musicians. Their material deals especially with
Charles Darwin’s complex relationship with his wife, Emma, an ardent believer in
the God of traditional Christianity. The religious implications of that
relationship will be pertinent to those interested in the man himself and his
theory’s import for their faith—spiritual or aesthetic. This site and the
artistic effort it promotes show a widening interest in Darwin’s life and work.
This is a small sampling from a perspective that occasionally finds an inspiring
niche in popular culture. [JNH]
PaGaian Eco-Spirituality. The PaGaian
Cosmology is an eco-spirituality that “connects the story of the unfolding
universe with the celebration of the Earth-Sun annual cycle.” An example of
eco-feminist naturalism, the PaGaian Cosmology creates female symbolism for the
Sacred, which its founder Glenys Livingstone, traces back to ancient forms of
naturalist religious practice. Focusing on ritual and celebration of the Earth’s
natural cycles, such as seasons or moon cycles, PaGaian Cosmology provides an
interesting and expressive new approach to religion in our world today. In the
realm of religious naturalism, this new approach provides people with a balanced
way to understand Ultimate Reality: revere the natural world while celebrating
increasing scientific discovery. [ZTR]
ReligiousNaturalism.org is, as its web address suggests, an introduction to
religious naturalism describing itself as “concise and meaty.” It backs up this
claim by giving detailed explanations of the basic philosophical and spiritual
concepts of religious naturalism as well as giving a general overview of the
varieties of religious naturalism. It encourages the reader to further explore
religious naturalism through its references page, which links to religious
naturalism websites, conferences, books, and media. Updated regularly, the site
is a valuable resource for those just beginning to explore religious naturalism.
It is, however, unclear who maintains the site, and its appearance is somewhat
dated, which slightly lowers its credibility as a scholarly resource. [JC]
Science Musings Blog
features daily postings from Chet Raymo. Each is brief (requiring about 1
minute to read), with “provocative meditations on science as a creative
human activity” that celebrate “the grandeur and mystery of the natural
world”. Each blog is enabled for Comments, and the site includes an archive
of daily musings, a photo gallery, and descriptions of books Chet Raymo has
written! The postings at this site are informative and enjoyable to read.
“Comments” give added perspectives but, since few readers contribute, the
site is dominated by the views of Chet Raymo. With his deep knowledge and
appreciation of the natural world and a range of religious traditions, one
couldn’t ask for a more capable guide. The format for the site, with brief
thoughts-for-the-day, gives an easy way to have regular contact with ideas
that can inspire, expand, and reinforce a religious naturalist
understanding. [TBM]
The
Spiritual Naturalist Society website offers a user-friendly interface,
informative entries, and a space-efficient and visually pleasing design. This
design, from the included pictures to the background colors, gives the
impression that the site is carefully maintained. The frequency with which the
articles and society background information are updated helps to confirm the
assumption that this is site is well taken care of. I would not, however,
suggest this site for research. The information given is not as scientific or
research driven as is necessary for scholarship. I would recommend this site to
anyone interested in more general information for themselves or for ideas of
spirituality from a naturalist perspective. The site has a number of pages and
well written articles on other religious traditions and several spiritual
practices, including journaling and meditation. There is a variety of articles,
covering several topics under the umbrella of spiritual naturalism, but many of
these articles are not scholarly in their writing or research. That said, the
Resources tab makes a number of good suggestions about places to find scholarly
research and gives good information on the main players and researchers in
religious naturalism. I would commend this site to anyone wanting basic
knowledge of religious/spiritual naturalism, or anyone wishing to expand their
own spirituality. While not a scholarly resource in itself, it may also serve as
an effective starting point from which to begin more intensive research. [AT]
Varieties of Naturalism. Maintained by
SUNY-Buffalo philosopher John Shook, Varieties of Naturalism is a sprawling,
information-rich website that offers a wealth of material on philosophical
naturalism and its various subcategories. The site amounts to a primer on
naturalism and its relationships with both philosophy and science. The site
clarifies some common misconceptions about naturalism, listing a series of
religious arguments against naturalism with replies to each. Shook is careful to
differentiate his subject matter from related topics but also provides separate
links with basic coverage of naturalism’s common bedfellows pragmatism, atheism
and pantheism. This is a solid starting point for anyone looking for a clear
perspective on the subject. Although the layout leaves much to be desired—it
includes long blocks of text that require much scrolling and an uninspired,
image-poor design—numerous links allow the reader to wander through a vast
labyrinth of facts about naturalism, atheism, philosophical materialism, and the
implications of science for religion. An exceptionally comprehensive section
titled “Naturalism and Science” covers the varieties of naturalism and concludes
that two are the most valid: reductive physicalism and perspectival pluralism. [CPW/JNH]
Zygon: Journal of Religion &
Science. This site contains searchable abstracts from Zygon: Journal of
Religion and Science, which is published four times a year. The Zygon
Journal seeks to unite religion and science in order to discover more fulfilling
meanings and values in human existence. With articles stretching all the way
back to 1966, one will be able to find a wealth of articles on this broad topic,
which includes discussions pertaining to Religious Naturalism. The full
articles can be viewed for a fee, but the first issue of the year is also
available online for free. The site has an easily navigated format and is well
worth a visit. [CMB]
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Applied Naturalism.
This blog is a product of naturalism.org. Known as the Applied Naturalism Group,
this blog hosts the ideas and concerns of people who have already applied the
ideas of naturalism to their lives. These people are looking for ways to
implement naturalist ideas for social and economic equality. A forum is
available for those who want to ask questions or have ideas around how to create
these changes. This site is not particularly helpful for someone wishing to
learn about naturalism, but it does refer those people to naturalism.org. An
interesting blog, this group has created a valuable resource for those who are
concerned with how naturalism can be applied to help our society. [ZTR]
Center for Inquiry.
The
Center for Inquiry is a non-profit organization that seeks to
create a secular society through the use of science, reason, inquiry, and
humanist values based in naturalism. Their well-designed website acts as a hub
to a variety of materials on secular humanist and science education, outreach,
and advocacy. It is media-heavy, with links to online course offerings, weekly
podcasts, and video lectures featuring well-known scientists such as Richard
Dawkins and Neil deGrasse Tyson addressing topics such as “The Future of
Naturalism.” The site provides useful up-to-date information regarding
scientific and philosophical naturalism and societal issues, but does not have
any particular emphasis on religious forms of naturalism.
[JC]
Center for Naturalism.
The Center for Naturalism (CFN) is a non-profit organization
dedicated to "increasing public awareness of naturalism and its implications for
social and personal well-being." In that effort it appears that both the
organization itself, and its website, are going great guns. On its Advisory
Board are some of the most prominent names associated with naturalism, including
Susan Blackmore, Daniel Dennett, Owen Flanagan, and Ursula Goodenough. The
website is extraordinarily robust, and keeps track of the many lively debates
going on within the naturalist community, as well as resources for education,
ongoing programs and events, and recommendations for further reading; it is well
worth a visit. However, in terms of its usefulness for understanding religious
forms of naturalism, it is only marginally successful, insofar as it serves to
direct persons interested in such issues to other helpful websites.
[JCD,BLT]
Naturalism.org.
This website, a production of the Center for Naturalism (www.CenterForNaturalism.org),
contains a plethora of links and essays on a wide variety of topics, sorted into
three broad categories: applied naturalism, philosophy, and spirituality.
Visitors might be turned off by the simplistic website design, which is pretty
bland, but the quality of the content is quite good. There is material here from
a number of prominent scholars on pertinent topics, alongside general guides and
lexicons for the uninitiated. These are accompanied by a great selection of
links to additional resources, if you can’t find what you’re looking for. A good
place to start for seekers ranging from strict atheists to new age enthusiasts.
[TDJ]
Religious Naturalism.
Religiousnaturalims.org is “where science and spirituality meet.” Designed with
a Smurf-like passion for blue, the aesthetic of Religiousnaturalism.org may
discourage the casual browser. But, for the resilient browser, this site
provides a useful introduction to religious naturalism including awareness of
the diversity of positions held by those who term themselves religious
naturalists. While the website itself sticks to general descriptions of
religious naturalism, links to the position of individual religious naturalists
including Ursula Goodenough and Jerome Stone provide more detailed treatment of
related topics. A helpful link to a bibliography of publications on religious
naturalism and a list of related websites is provided for those looking for more
information. Though appearing outdated, Religiousnaturalism.org receives high
marks for content. [AMH/BJT]
The
Secular Web (www.infidels.org).
Containing an extensive library of free articles and reviews of books on
naturalism, the Secular Web strives to provide a forum for discussion and
personal inquiry into naturalistic philosophy and related topics. The site is
useful for staying on top of current events of interest to and effecting
nontheists mainly in North America through news links and discussion board, with
limited discussion of and articles on religious naturalism. Being an open
forum, the quality of articles and papers varies, but the online library
provides many scholarly pieces on topics related to religion, immorality, and
faith categorized by closely defined terms. [AMH]
Swimming the Sacred River. This site
is a helpful website dedicated to naturalistic spirituality. The site’s purpose,
as stated by its designer J. Ash Bowie, is to promote “a naturalistic approach
to spirituality that is grounded in a) progressive, humanistic principles, b) a
rational understanding of the universe informed by scientific inquiry, and c) a
reverent orientation towards the natural world.” The site consists of a short,
but satisfactory explication of philosophical and religious naturalism, a
section on the mission and tenants of the Sacred River Project, a section on
spiritual practice, as well as a photo gallery of inspiring landscapes, a book
section, and links to other relevant websites. Overall, this site provides
limited but quality information on naturalistic spiritual practice. [APL]
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Photographer unknown. |
Apex Naturalism. This is a
moderately useful site for finding articles related to naturalism, atheism,
pantheism, and humanism. Articles are organized according to topical interests
that include culture, philosophy, politics, religion, humor, and technology. The
site also contains a substantial blogroll. Updates appear to be infrequent, with
new feeds coming in only a few times a month. This site was intended to be an
online magazine with daily updates, but it seems to have fallen short of its
ambitions. Nevertheless, there is some interesting archived material accessible,
which dates back to February 2007. [TTW]
Evolutionary Spirituality. This is an encyclopedic looking site providing
some well written articles and blogs on different issues relating to religious
naturalism and other forms of naturalism. It is not a large site—only six
headings, each of which may provide links to topics under that heading. What I
liked about this site is it allows alternate views. I was surprised to see
positive articles on Jesus Christ and Buddhism. The site is relatively user
friendly, although the volume of advertisements tends to crowd the articles. [LW]
Inspiring naturalism. This site
contains a podcast library connected to the main site TheGreatStory.org. Both
sites are hosted by authors and activists Connie Barlow and Michael Dowd. The
podcast library is a great resource with a variety of different lectures by
scientists, psychologists, evolutionary theorists, humanists, and others. While
the information provided is scholarly and useful for research, neither site
gives the visitor a clear definition of naturalism. The podcast library and its
parent site suffer from a lack of organization and both are difficult to
explore, which is unfortunate, because the podcast library is full of very
impressive lectures. [AT]
Neo-Pantheism - A
Modern Paradigm. Neo-Pantheism is the somewhat scattered manifesto of Jerald
L. Robertson, a pantheist and philosophical naturalist whose goal is provide a
spiritually viable alternative to Western monotheism. The website suffers from
numerous typos and misspellings, but the layout is easy to navigate and visually
friendly if unsophisticated. A fairly lengthy page expounds on religious
naturalism and provides three definitions for the movement, each of which goes
into more detail than the last in order to flesh out the concept for the reader.
Robertson particularly emphasizes the legal implications of religious
naturalism, with arguments presented for the legal viability of religious
naturalism as a religion within the United States. [CPW]
The Brights
aims to bring together self-identified naturalists—called “brights”—to promote
global understanding of the naturalistic worldview. The website takes great care
to make the idea of naturalism accessible to all visitors, providing
definitions, diagrams, videos, FAQs, essays, and clear documentation of the
principles that guide The Brights Movement. The site also provides links to a
3,000+ member forum, blog posts, social media, meet-ups, and volunteer
opportunities with local Brights constituencies. Given the Movement’s function,
however, the content of the website is largely biased toward naturalism
(contrasting “brights” with supernaturalistic “supers”), very specific to the
work of The Brights Movement, and does not provide academic discussions or
overviews of naturalism at large. Nevertheless, this site serves as a valuable
resource for identifying current activity within the naturalist community. [KC]
Transcendental Philosophy and
Naturalism. This is a blog that was created to provide information on the Arts and
Humanities Research Council project at the University of Essex, which was
undertaken for three years and completed in September 2008. The four
contributors to the blog are associated with the University of Essex’s
Philosophy Department. Posts vary from reviews of conferences and talks to
summaries of papers on philosophers such as Heidegger and Quine. Scholars will
find this site useful if they have questions about specific philosophers of a
naturalist bent, but they will not find any broad overview of the topic here. [CMB]
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Art by ??; |
Highlands Institute for American Religious
and Philosophical Thought (HIARPT). This is the webpage for a scholarly
organization that distinctly emphasizes, among other things, “naturalism in
American theology and philosophy.” This website is in need of better design as
well as more frequent maintenance (photographs seem dated and the “links” page
has been listed as “not yet complete” for some time now). Nevertheless, this
site is a helpful resource for anybody interested in religious naturalism since
it lists pertinent upcoming events, provides a contact directory for its members
(which includes many of the top scholars of religious naturalism), and links to
the American Journal of Theology and Philosophy (which often includes religious
naturalist viewpoints). [TTW]
Integrative
Spirituality. "Integrative
Spirituality" is an example of one way to approach spirituality within a
naturalistic worldview. While not an educational site per se, it
definitely has the resources available to serve as one; few sites boast
as many pages as this one has, and the amount of information available
is staggering. It isn’t about religious naturalism in general, but a
specific organized manifestation of it. The group has its own creed,
written mission, position papers, and online university. To the casual
visitor, the site seems overrun with jargon
– the Unissance
Movement; New Universe Worldview; Great Re-Alignment; energy exchange
principle of life –
though presumably most groups do the first time they are encountered.
Whether it’s a functioning community isn’t clear; the "Current Ezine"
dates to April, 2007, and the online calendar shows only one or two
events scheduled for the year. [JCD]
Journal of the Academy of
Metaphysical Naturalism. The Journal's website is a personal blog. Examples
of posts include “The Loss of Secularism in Naturalism,” “Free Will and
Naturalism” and “Non-Reductive Monism.” These titles and the blog title may
deceive readers into believing this is a sophisticated blog. To the contrary,
however: the articles are difficult to follow, they do not employ philosophical
language consistent with its use in the academy, and they often cite fiction
author Ayn Rand as an authority on metaphysics. This website does provide some
insight into the types of issues involved with metaphysical naturalism, but the
narrow views of the author, the questionable credibility, and the lack of
context he provides for his views earn this website two halos.
[SR]
Natural Pantheist. This
site is a blog. Its aim is to understand the nature of the universe,
especially the view of natural pantheism. The blog has information on a
variety of aspects of natural pantheism and spirituality. However, this
blog is not well-organized. Nor is the content academically sound. It is
not an academic website but an exercise in spiritual journeying. [KSM]
No
Unsacred Place, a project affiliated with the
Pagan
Newswire Collective, is a blogging community that explores the
interplay between religion and science from a plethora of modern Pagan
perspectives. Consistent updates—some more engaging and well-written
than others—are made to the blog by its 15-member team, focusing
specifically on news articles, examples of rituals, essays, and personal
reflections. While commenting is open on all posts, the number of
comments on most entries is low, and most of the links on the website
itself point toward the personal blogs of the contributors, thus
limiting the perspectives provided. Therefore, this site serves as an
interesting supplementary source on religious naturalism in practice,
but provides little scholarly information on the topic. [KC]
Post-Pagan.com.
As a personal blog, the value of this site for understanding religious
naturalism is necessarily limited. The scanty links to books and other
blogs do not add much value either. Nevertheless, as a window into the
confusing and often painful process of growing out of traditional
religions and into religious naturalism, this blog is invaluable. With
candor, courage, and helpful definitions along the way, the author
describes his often traumatic transitions from Christianity through
deism, wicca, druidry, bioregional animism, and secular humanism,
finally arriving at a Unitarian Universalist religious naturalism. [DR]
Religious Naturalism for All.
Religious Naturalism for All is a community forum “for all naturalists and
humanists who have a religious or spiritual inclination.” The site has, however,
just four blog posts, 37 members, and no forum activity: this makes the site
devoid of everything it promises. Some value, however, is salvageable in the
site’s video resources. A delightful compendium of religious naturalism videos
ranging from a Neil DeGrasse Tyson lecture to “The Circle of Life” from the Lion
King rounds out different means by which one can engage religious
naturalism. This video library provides the only value Religious Naturalism for
All has to offer, but at least it is a little bit of something for everybody.
[SR]
WorldviewNaturalism.com.
With very little original content, this website is only useful as a hub
linking one to other online resources. The most valuable collection of
links is under “People” where one can find links to the faculty and
personal websites of many prominent naturalists. Despite such
resources, this site contains zero helpful information about religious
naturalism. If anything the site is counterproductive: the many debates
one can access are categorized simply by the names of “theist” and
“atheist” interlocutors and the introductory video defines naturalism in
contrast to all forms of religion, equating it instead with
epistemological scientism. [DR]
Naturalism at the Secular Web. This website has a simple and straightforward layout. It is dedicated to Naturalism, “offering arguments and evidence challenging supernatural beliefs.” The site offers a wide array of articles on topics relating to and supporting different brands of naturalism: Metaphysical Naturalism, Methodological Naturalism, Pluralistic Naturalism and Materialism. Other features include writings on a wide range of topics, all written after 1970; and resources related to Non-theism, such as supporting articles, reviews of publications, and debates. The site is not easy to navigate as you have to use the back button to back out of a feature and return to previous screens. But it does offer a wide range of materials, among which the visitor should find some that are useful. [LW]
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The contributors to these web links are:
[AMH] Anne Marie Hillman, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[APL] Andrew Linscott, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[AT] Ashley Theuring, member of the 2013 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[BJT] Brice Tennant, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[BLT] Benjamin Thompson, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University]
[CMB] Carrie Brunner, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[CPW] Connow Wood, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[DR] David Rohr, member of the 2013 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[HJW] Hong Jongwook, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[IC] Ian Cooley, member of the 2013 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[JC] Jessica Chicka, member of the 2013 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[JCD] Joel Daniels, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[JNH] Josh Hasler, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[JX] Jiao Xia, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[KC] Katelynn Carver, member of the 2013 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[KCH] Kim ChanHong, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[KSM] Kim ShinMyoung, member of the 2013 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[LW] Lancelot Watson, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[SR] Stefani Ruper, member of the 2013 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[TBM] Todd McAlister, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[TDJ] Troy DuJardin, member of the 2013 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[TTW] Thurman Todd Willison, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University
[ZTR] Zachary Rodriguez, member of the 2010 Religious Naturalism Seminar at Boston University