Primal Faiths, Liberal Faiths
Christa Landon

Earth-centered traditions are sometimes called primal faiths, because they were not established by an historical prophet. They share the implicit belief that Nature is the primal revelation. This means that all the scriptures, rituals, and practices are only human responses to that primal revelation, and so, naturally, these are as varied as our languages.

What do I mean when I say that Nature is the primal revelation? In all our theological and philosophical thinking we must begin with a careful observation of Nature. Then we respond. Nature is the territory; scriptures, laws, and practices are maps. 

In prophetic faiths, like Judaism, Christianity, Islam, some New Religious Movements, the authority of the prophet is the standard of truth. In the primal faiths, the observable truth is the standard by which an authority is judged. Truth is our authority, not authority our truth. 

Liberal religions share the conviction that the maps we make are not the territory, and so they will vary and they must always be subject to improvement. While some may say that this liberalism is post-modern, surviving ancient Pagan documents establish that the ancients already understood this.