Pantheism - the belief that the universe must be treated as divine - avoids this trap.
Scientific pantheism starts from the unquestionable existence of the external physical world. When we say: "The physical universe is divine," we means no more, and no less, than this: the material universe is divine in exactly the same sense that God or gods are divine - that is, it possesses the attributes that we generally require in order to call something divine. If we can prove this statement, then we have proved that the universe is divine.
This is not a purely theoretical statement, It has implications for action. Those implications are that we should relate to the cosmos and to the natural world as theists relate to their gods - that is, with love, humility, submission, and deep reverence.
Instead of believing in invisible gods who require enormous leaps of faith, we should start reverencing the visible divinity in front of our eyes. We should regard the preservation of its most fragile forms - in nature - as a direct act of homage to an existing divinity - not a stratagem to get us a better seat in heaven.
