The human project or what difference would God make?

Abstract

Many people believe that, without any God or something similarly ‘transcendent’, human life would be meaningless. I oppose this position. In its most popular form, it supposes that meaning accrues because our mundane life is merely a prelude – a time of trial, to decide the character of our life in the hereafter. When probed, this approach involves a number of implausible corollaries. More abstract approaches suggest that meaningfulness results from human contributions to a larger project, the fulfilment of some divine (or transcendent) scheme for the universe. That idea is more promising, but it fails to recognize the possibility of a larger – ‘human’ – project to which our lives may also contribute, and that from such contributions can arise significance. This possibility is suggested by John Dewey, and traces of it can be found in a number of insightful poets, Herbert, Wordsworth, and Whitman. Finally, I rebut the thought that, without something transcendent, there can be no values.