On February 25, 2009, in Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum, by unanimous ruling the United States Supreme Court decided that the placement of a monument to the Ten Commandments did not require the Pleasant Grove City to erect monuments to other religions.

The case arose because followers of the Summum religion have proposed that monuments inscribed with the Summum’s Seven Aphorisms be erected next to Ten Commandments monuments.

This raises two significant issues:

• Regarding worldviews, what is the Summum religion about? and
• Regarding the First Amendment of the Constitution, do all religions deserve absolute equality in the public sphere?

Let’s take the first issue first. The Summum religion was begun in 1975 by Claude “Corky” Nowell’s claimed encounter with “Summum (higher) individuals” who presented a body of knowledge to him about the nature of creation. Nowell subsequently changed his name to Summum Bonum Amon Ra. Summum Bonum is Latin for “highest good;” Amon Ra is in reference to the Egyptian sun god.

Nowell/Ra alleges that Summum’s Seven Aphorisms were a “higher law” revealed to Moses from a divine being (a Summum individual?) in the first tablet of laws. The Israelite people weren’t ready to receive them because their minds weren’t open, so Moses broke the tablet and then received a “lower law,” the Ten Commandments. The higher law then was only revealed to a few select individuals (elite knowers) who were able to comprehend it.

The Seven Aphorisms are:

1. SUMMUM is MIND; the universe is a mental creation.
2. As above, so below; as below, so above.
3. Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.
4. Everything is dual; everything has an opposing point; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes bond; all truths are but partial truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled.
5. Everything flows out and in; everything has its season; all things rise and fall; the pendulum swing expresses itself in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates.
6. Every cause has its effect; every effect has its cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is just a name for Law not recognized; there are many fields of causation, but nothing escapes the Law of Destiny.
7. Gender is in everything; everything has its masculine and feminine principles; Gender manifests on all levels.

This new religious sect melds wine, sexuality and meditation.

Here’s a little worldview quiz:

• Which religious/philosophical worldview does Summum represent?
• How does it compare and contrast with the biblical worldview?