- Liberal theism
Liberal theism is the philosophical and religious belief in the existence of a deity without adhering to an established religion.
The exact definition can be debated. Liberal theists often hold to the belief that "all religions lead to the truth." Liberal theists are very likely to be influenced by the beliefs in their culture. For example, a liberal theist in the United States is likely to have beliefs strongly influenced by Christianity. It can also be said that all religions began as a form of liberal theism.
Liberal theists usually adhere to
moral relativitism thenmoral absolutism . Often claiming that there is no black and white concepts but instead suggesting that conceptions exist subjectively instead of objectively. Liberal theism should not be confused withLiberation Theology .Liberalism can also exist in established religions such as Christianity, Judaism, or Islam.
A key aspect of Liberal Theism is that it is the idea that
classical theism can be modified. This means a Liberal Christian may not, for example, conform entirely to the description of God in the bible. They would say that we can redefine God. They generally argue that people 2000 years ago did not necessarily have the correct idea.Putting Liberal Theism in to context we can look at it as a response to the
problem of evil argument against the existence of God. The problem of evil suggests that an "all good" and "all powerful" God could not possibly endorse or allow evil actions such as the holocaust. A Liberal Theist may suggest that perhaps god is not all powerful. They would say perhaps he is just the most powerful. This means that god cannot control some things. This allows for us to say that humans can use their own innate reason to act in an evil way.Liberal Theism provides an answer to the question “If god is all powerful, then can he create a rock that not even he pick up?”. This provides a problem for a classical theist, but a liberal theist would say that he could either not create a rock that he could not pick up because he does not have the power to create such a rock. Or he cannot create it because he can pick any rock up or he is beyond lifting rocks.
ee also
*
Liberal Christianity
*Classical theism
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
