Spong's Theism

I read a book by Spong a little while ago and some of the ideas and concepts have stayed with me. The book was called 'Why Christianity must Change or Die':

In it Spong plots the history of religion. He considers that religion came into being when humans evolved to a level of self-consciousness that caused them trauma. Animals are not aware of the lack of control they have over whether they live or die, or whether they suffer terribly. They don't worry about meaninglessness in life. Spong suggests that faced with these psychological traumas, humans created gods to give them the feeling of being more in control. Specifically, they needed fertility goddesses, for they realised that if their harvests failed they could starve. He suggests that the first gods were female, as it was the fertility they sought and they didn't understand how reproduction occurred.

However, once they had the concept of the sperm being vital and the false belief that the woman was merely a vessel in which the sperm grew into a baby, then the male gods came into being. As the rain falls on the earth from the sky, so the male god was in the sky. Spong believes that the people sought to control their destinies by sacrificing animals or people to placate or please their god, and to give a sense of reassurance that their harvests may bear fruit.

This outpouring of belief in gods was evident in every culture. Dogmas were formed, heretics excluded and the religions were ones of conformity and fear. Spong believes that we need to rise above these religions, to face squarely our lack of control and possible meaningless. He believes we need to become atheists.

However, Spong believes in a Living God, entirely separate from these superstitions, and encourages us to relate to the Living God, finding a faith not based on fear, not based on childish dependence, but based on love. He suggests that all religions have theism running through them, and that we must work to rid ourselves of the theist elements of our faith. He then goes into some detail about where he sees theism in the Christian Scriptures. I guess an example would be misogyny, there are misogynous elements to the scriptures which he would see as part of theism, but also acts of equality by Jesus that Spong would see as part of the faith in a Living God.

Obviously, this is all very controversial and difficult. But I broadly agree with him. I am trying to put to death in  me superstitious belief, the notion of an angry God that needs placating, the draw to conformity and dogma that is written in stone and unquestionable. I do think these things are signs of a sick religion, and not signs of a living faith in a loving God.