Skeptical Faith

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...

Google Image If you regularly connect with social media – Facebook, Instagram, etc. – you’ll notice that they are filled with political messages from one side or another. Many are harsh; some are just plain mean. And many are aimed at people out of the mainstream – minorities, immigrants, the homeless, the poor. And they’re not coming from just one side of the issues that are generally categorized as Republican/Democrat or Liberal/Conservative. Many complaints against the “other side” that I’ve seen are either downright false, exaggerated or unproven. They often talk about the other side being “outraged” or “unhinged,” sometimes with language not suitable for a blog such as this. It’s a classic case of the end justifying the means. (I don’t want this blog to be viewed as “political,” but in the interest of truth, I believe our president is to a great extent responsible for this kind of language and vitriol. He’s providing the model for political language and action, making it seem ...

Google Image When you fall in love, you want to think of nothing else, or no one else, but your beloved. It can be close to an obsession. If you marry, as I did over 50 years ago, love eventually transforms. You don’t expect to be always aglow with emotion, to be feverish about it. Your conversations with the other aren’t always warm and interesting. You settle into a more enduring, calmer and, in my opinion, more authentic kind of love, in which you become accustomed to think about the other’s welfare at least as much as your own, close to a real “love of neighbor as yourself.” Oh, you still have those moments in which your heart melts for your beloved, but they are balanced by the joint, day-to-day tending to the needs of living. Married Love I think this understanding of married love, at least, is analogous to what may happen when we pray, or don’t pray. Says Ronald Rolheiser, priest and theologian, in his little book, Prayer, Our Deepest Longing: “We nurse a fantasy both a...

Google Image There’s an ad appearing regularly on streaming video, and I assume on regular TV, showing an attractive young woman with beautiful, long black hair who has just used a hair product that has made her hair gleaming and shiny. Walking down a city street, she passes a store front with a big window and can’t resist stopping to look at her reflection, running her hand down her hair as if appreciating a luxurious garment. Her face conveys a self-satisfaction, even smugness that says, “My hair and I are beautiful. Aren’t I wonderful?” This is a message conveyed by an endless barrage of TV advertising that wants you to believe that their products – from hair and beauty products to toilet-bowl cleaners - will make you feel good about yourself. And feeling good about yourself is a cultural priority. Pop Psychology Obviously, it’s not good to feel bad about yourself, and contemporary psychology has helped us appreciate this fact. But there’s psychology as a science – which is on...

Google Image Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know about the recent murder of Charlie Kirk, a religious conservative, co-founder of Turning Point USA and an influential voice in the Trump administration. He was reported to have been shot in Utah by 22-year-old Tyler Robinson who was apparently opposed to Kirk’s teachings. It comes several months after the fatal shooting of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, 55, a Democrat, and her husband, Mark. They were murdered in their home by a person described as “a far-right extremist.” An article on the website, A Mighty Girl, posted by a friend on Facebook, quotes the Center for Strategic and International Studies that between 2016 and 2025, there were 25 attacks and threats targeting elected officials, political candidates, judges and governmental employees that were motivated by partisan beliefs. It metastasizes Spencer Cox, the Republican governor of Utah, had this to say about the Kirk killing, according to t...

Google Image A phrase in the “Our Father,” also called the Lord’s Prayer, has always been a problem for me. To me, this phrase expresses the aspiration that we, and everybody else, follow God’s will. And in context, the implication seems to be that God’s will will be done on the arrival of God’s kingdom (“Thy Kingdom Come”). But following God’s will is easier said than done, as expressed in the Book of Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible. Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends? For the deliberations of mortals are timid and unsure are our plans. For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the   mind that has many concerns. And scarce do we guess the things on earth and what is within our grasp we find   with difficulty. But when things are in heaven, who can search them out? Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high? Does It Answer the Question? Ok, this is a hin...