Toby Selwyn, the young and articulate atheist over at A Load of Bright, has written an article and posted it recently on his site. The post is called A Humanist Lesson: The Prayer of Serenity. He has kindly invited me to respond to it. Rather than just leave a comment on his post, which I have, I want to post about it myself.Toby rightly points out that the great American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr created the now famous “serenity prayer”, used by Alcoholics Anonymous for years. Here it is in full:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and (the) wisdom to know the difference.
Toby believes it is “one of the most deeply profound maxims ever to emerge from Christianity, or any religion for that matter.” He goes on to say, though, that he must “reject, for obvious reasons, are the first three words, ‘God grant me’.” He believes that this “prayer” can be accomplished without God, and, as a humanist, he believes we can “strive to achieve these traits for ourselves, without any divine intervention, simply by making an effort each day.” Toby applies the prayer to the hopeful decline and eventual elimination of religion because of its obvious harmfulness to society: we can’t change the harm religion has done in the past, so we must serenely move on; we must courageously overcome the dangerous influence of religion in our society; and we must know the difference between harm done and the harm that can be prevented from religion. I hope, Toby, that I have summarized your post to your satisfaction.
First of all, I would like to point out that Toby begins his post by writing that, “Christians believe that their holy text, the Bible, is the inerrant word of God. They believe it can be referred to as a complete guide on how to live your life and secure salvation.” Niebuhr wouldn’t fall neatly under this definition of what a Christian is, nor would his view of Scripture meet this criteria. He is considered, by many Christians, a liberal, who can be said “argued that biblical stories were mythical rather than historical, and taught that Jesus had a sinful nature.” I say this only to again point out that, just like atheists cannot be described as a homogeneous group, neither can Christians, at least philosophically or theologically.
Another point I’d like to make is that even though Toby would like to see the prayer dissected of “God grant me”, thereby making it no longer a prayer but a “maxim”, we should know that Niebuhr intentionally created this as a prayer because of his theology. Niebuhr grew up during the Great Depression and lived through both World Wars. He was convinced theologically and experientially of the sinfulness of human nature, and that both individuals and groups were hopelessly caught in egotism. He believed that reason was ultimately limited to solve social injustice because our rational capacities as human beings are, at their root, self-serving. He believed that we cannot, simply by thinking or willing it, make ourselves moral. In fact, Niebuhr taught that the egotism of the individual only becomes more powerful when collected into a group, to the extent that an individual’s egotistical will-to-live takes on the more evil will-to-power, that is, coercion becomes the modus-operendi of the group.
This is why Niebuhr wrote this as a prayer. He believed he was unable to achieve serenity, courage and wisdom by his own power. He knew and saw the ultimate moral weakness and unrestrained evil of, not religion, but all humans and society. His isn’t a pessimistic view of the human race, but one which demanded the exacting exercises of contrition and love.
So, Toby, although your edited “maxim” is admirable, noble, and indeed humane, Neibuhr would say that by yourself it is impossible. Alone, we are basically egocentric creatures who will only use serenity, courage and wisdom to achieve our own selfish ends.
The fine art photograph is the creation of my friend Mark Hemmings. It has nothingn to do with this article. I just like it!
David Hayward is an artist trapped in a pastor's body, stripping to the essential.
I read Toby Selwyn’s article and your response, both are very thought provoking. It is true that, “we are basically egocentric creatures who will only use serenity, courage and wisdom to achieve.” I would add that we, as humans, are not guilty of that on every occasion though. There are times when we truly do things out of an unselfish care for others and there are times when we do not and I don’t really see a difference within or without religion, church or God. It seems that Christians depend on God to enable them to do good because they simply can’t believe they can do it on their own, they believe they are too weak, but if that were true, why are unbelievers able to be kind, giving, loving and unselfish?
Most of my life I was a “tortured” evangelical Christian, I had so many questions that never got answered. I was challenged to look “outside the box.” When I had the courage to do that; I discovered something; we were not the, â€be all, end all.†There was joy, courage and caring outside of evangelical Christianity; actually I’ve found life to be much more genuine. This is not a slam on Christianity at all, I believe there are many sincere Christians, but there are many who are not. I have the wounds to prove it. I think a lot of people do.
Anyway, thanks for the post. It was very good.
I would likewise want to comment on what you said David…; So, Toby, although your edited “maxim†is an admirable and noble one, Neibuhr would say that, by yourself, it is impossible. Alone, we are basically egocentric creatures who will only use serenity, courage and wisdom to achieve our own ends.…but I am not sure if you really subscribe to what you typed, or are you just paraphrasing what you think Neibuhr would believe?
At any rate, I disagree with it due to it’s obvious generalization. Even if most people fit the description, most of the time, there are so many people who are actually unselfish and caring toward all they come in contact with, and they do it without a feeling of duty toward the Christian God.
Case in point, my father. Non believer, approaching 70, retired US Navy, spends a large part of his week fixing things up around the neighborhood for those who do not know how, installing water heaters, replacing broken parts on automobiles, helping repair damage to piers and bulkheads (they live on the water), in general, he can fix anything, so he does, for free.
He goes to the Methodist church every Sunday with my Mother, where he is also the maintenance man. He has installed sound systems, lighting, gas heaters, stoves. He has spent literally hundreds of hours maintaining this 80 year old building for people to worship in, and he is not a believer.
So, I guess I am just not sure how to respond to your statement “Neibuhr would say that, by yourself, it is impossible”. By your self? What does that mean? By your self, with out the influence from the supernatural? I really hope that you are not saying that. Them’s fight’n words!
Dave, are you over your flu?
Hi David,
Thank you for your response (for those of you who don’t know me, I am the author of A Load of Bright and the article in question).
First of all, I must plead guilty to the charge of lumping all Christians together as fundamentalists. I should have specified at the beginning that only fundamentalist Christians believe the Bible is the literal, inerrant word of God, and that many people interpret the stories as allegories. It is also really only dangerous, fundamentalist religion about which I was speaking at the end, the harm that it has done and continues to do, and it’s decline, revival etc. I can’t stress enough how strongly I believe that people have every right to practise their religion, provided that they harm nobody else in the process. Having been quick to moan when people have generalised about atheists, I sincerely apologise for having committed the same crime. It was not intentional, just an oversight.
My knowledge of Niebuhr himself was sketchy, and I found your run-down of his life, work and beliefs fascinating. I have to point out though, that the fact that he wrote the prayer has no relevance to my interpretation of it. Just as a poet leaves the text to his readers, and they will often find meaning there that he never intended, Niebuhr’s intententions when writing the prayer can be quite rightly discarded. He may well have believed, as you say, that it is impossible for us to achieve serenity, courage and wisdom without God, but all I can say in response is that I strongly disagree. I believe we can achieve all three, and use them selflessly to serve the interests of other human beings, and not God.
Barbara and Randy: I think that all human beings–regardless of their acceptance of an existent God or any religious belief–are capable of kindness, generousity, and unselfish love because all human beings are created in God’s image. His fingerprints can be seen even in the dirtiest of us at times and in those moments we appear “good” (as our society defines good).
It is my understanding that Niebuhr’s prayer was actually this:
God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
courage to change the things that should be changed
and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
which removes the “I” from the prayer completely.
I also came across a longer version of the prayer on a couple of websites that goes like this:
The Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.
Amen.
Also, there is a lot of speculation about whether Niebuhr actually wrote the prayer.
Here are a few more links about Niebuhr for anyone who’s interested and got time to research more fully. Enjoy!
http://www.uuca.org/sermon.php?id=92
http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=3279&C=2735
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2003/12/14/beyond_serenity/
Kipling’s words have inspired me since I saw them as a small boy hanging in my grandmother’s kitchen:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!
I have to acknowledge that many people are indeed egocentric and selfish, it’s easy to be egocentric and selfish, it’s more difficult to be caring and selfless.
But I do believe that we, perhaps with careful education as children, are capable of rising above our immediate selfish desires and doing things that are altruistic, and I DON’T believe that such actions require the intervention of supernatural entities. People have the potential to be terribly evil, but we also have the potential to be wonderfully good. It’s all up to us. There is no god to drive us to good, and no devil to drive us to evil. It’s all our choice.