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Between Belief and Doubt?

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Google Image Many people think that either you’re a believer or you’re not. If you’re a believer, they may say, you must adhere to a faith that is expressed in dogma and practice and embrace every aspect of it. There is no room for doubt or uncertainty. If you’re not a believer, you’re pretty much doomed to exclusion from God’s love. I think many believers have come to see that faith can’t be that black and white. Either you have no questions about your faith, which would be highly unusual, or you ignore your questions thinking they are a sign of infidelity. I doubt there are many who have no questions at all. Not the Opposite of Faith Doubt is not the opposite of faith, and the road from doubt to faith is rarely straight. There are lots of curves, detours and even reverses on the journey. And I’ve always believed that atheists, too, have their doubts about their unbelief. Letters discovered after the 1997 death of Mother Theresa, the famous “Saint of the Gutters,” revealed t...
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“Thoughts and Prayers”

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Google Image On social media, and in person, many people seem to dislike the phrase, “You’re in our thoughts and prayers,” used when someone discloses a tragedy such as a death in the family. I don’t think all who object to this phrase are against thoughts and prayers as such. They are against clichés that may not have a lot of thought behind them – not insincere, exactly, but maybe lacking in genuineness. When I was in graduate school studying journalism, professors emphasized the importance of avoiding clichés in writing, for the reason mentioned above, but also because writing that uses a lot of clichés is uninteresting. Rote Prayers Religious people use a lot of “clichés” when they pray, and that’s especially true of people of my own faith. Catholicism has a lot of rote prayers, ones we recite over and over, starting with the sign of the cross and the words that go with it. We often make the sign of the cross sloppily and recite the words, “In the name of the Father and of ...
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“She Who Is?”

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Google Image I’ve mentioned several times in these blogs that I had a sort of awakening in my early 30s about my image of God. A homily by a young priest declared that many Christians “don’t know who their father is.” It was a revelation to know that in the gospels, Jesus incessantly talks about his “father.” In the gospels, he uses the term “Abba” - the loving way in which a child of that culture referred to a loving father - 170 times. And the prayers at the Catholic mass make no sense unless you understand that they are, with some exceptions, directed to God the Father. So, my spirituality has since revolved around learning to know my Father better. Most of my prayers are directed to the Father, including the Centering Prayer I’ve been doing or several years. Another Awakening? But I’ve had another recent awakening, which leads me to believe that I need to adjust my idea of God, thanks to listening to podcasts of interviews with Elizabeth Johnson. Johnson, according to Wikiped...
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Does God Have Favorites?

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Google Image Five years ago, I wrote a blog called “What’s So Great about Being Poor?” “Nothing,” I wrote, “ unless being among God’s favorites counts for nothing.” It’s true that poverty, in itself, is no great asset. Many people and organizations are trying to eliminate poverty. It would be wonderful if there were no more poor people. But Jesus, the realist, said it best: “The poor you will always have with you.” So, what should the attitude of people searching for God – especially in the Christian tradition - be toward the poor? Some may interpret Jesus’ words to mean there will always be poor people so don’t bother with them. Commit to a Religion And the question in the previous paragraph is significant. The commonly understood path toward God is to commit to a religion and follow its precepts – go to church, pray, and follow the teachings of the church. All of that is important. But because of a better reading and understanding of the Bible, many are beginning to see tha...
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“A Hundred Thousand Welcomes?”

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Google Image I’ve often written about my personal connection to Ireland, undoubtedly because all of my great grandparents were Irish immigrants and I’ve always been interested in them and their homeland. In fact, I find immigration itself fascinating. It requires people to tear themselves from their families, culture, food and often faith, to plant themselves in foreign soil. My beloved wife, Amparo, is an immigrant from Colombia, and that adds to my interest. So, I was understandably attentive to an article in a recent issue of America magazine (I hope none of you are asking, “What’s a magazine?”) entitled, “We All Belong to Each Other: Rethinking Immigration and Irish Identity.” Devastating Famines, Chronic Poverty As you may know, Ireland was for several hundred years an exporter of its people. Because of devastating famines and chronic poverty, its citizens scattered to all parts of the globe, but principally to England, the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S., at least, the Irish w...
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Jesus as “nightclub bouncer?”

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Google Image Have you noticed that often, a subject appears to be of little interest until we delve into it, then it may appear to be of major importance? For me, that’s the case with “Christian nationalism.” The phrase may appear to be harmless, nothing that would affect me or mine. But in the present political climate, Christian nationalism appears to be gaining in popularity.  And I now believe that it may seriously misinterpret and undermine biblical and church teaching, making it toxic for people searching for God in the Christian tradition and dangerous for a country that purports to be democratic and just. That judgment is based on what I’ve read about Christian Nationalism, including an article in a recent issue of the New York Times in which Times columnist Ross Douthat interviews evangelical pastor and influencer, Douglas Wilson.   Transcendent Grounding “Christian nationalism” says Wilson, “is the conviction that secularism is a failed experiment, that societi...
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“Woke” or “Awake?”

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Google Image (Due to a change in my schedule, Skeptical Faith will be published on Fridays instead of Thursdays beginning Oct. 24.) I was a latecomer to the notion of “woke,” not realizing until a couple of years ago that it had become a politically charged catch phrase for all things liberal. According to Wikipedia, woke is “derived from African American English used since the 1930s or earlier to refer to awareness of racial prejudice and discrimination…. The term acquired political connotations by the 1970s and … over time, came to be used to refer to a broader awareness of social inequalities such as sexism and denial of LGBTQ rights.” Now, it appears to be a term of derision used by the right to vilify the left. To me, it's all a bit juvenile and silly. Biblical The idea of being “awake, if not “woke,” is biblical, used in the New Testament to urge Jesus’ followers not to bury their heads in the sand but to see clearly what is going on in the world and to be ready for J...
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