Skeptical Faith

Google Image When I was 14, my parents acceded to my whining and bought me some “white bucks.” For those of you who have come of age in the 21 st century, see the picture below. I considered them about the coolest things you could possibly put on your feet - especially combined with a v-neck sweater whose color, according to the label, was “ California shrimp.” Not-cool, you might say about these “fashions.” But anybody over the age of 20 has already experienced the arbitrariness of fashion and knows that trends come and go regularly. And each generation feels smug about current styles. Until recently, the bills of baseball-type hats had to be curved. Now, mimicking inner-city trends, they must be straight. Not long ago cargo pants and wide-legged jeans were in. I still wear them, of course, but must abide the ridicule of my family. Meanwhile, I smirk at the generation of men before me who wear shorts with white socks up to their knees. Fact is, we’re all so tuned in to ...

Google Image Martin Luther King, whose holiday we celebrated recently, is said to have been a pacifist. So was Mahatma Ghandi, the famous leader of Indian nationalism, and in his later years, Nelson Mandela. Some say Jesus was, too, and many Christian churches have promoted pacifism or resisted the use of violence and opposed war. So, should one who is searching for God be a pacifist in the culture wars? For those of you unfamiliar with the term, “culture wars” are generally taken to mean the “wars” between those who are conservative/traditionalist/rightists and those who are liberal/progressive/leftists. The “battlefields” include abortion, same-sex marriage, assisted suicide, and to some extent, the “welfare nation,” “big government,” and gun politics. The term “Christian” has, unfortunately, become synonymous with the right. I write “unfortunately” not because I would prefer that it be identified with the left, but because it shouldn’t be identified with either. ...

Last week I wrote about anxiety and the frontal lobe, relating how that part of the brain is responsible for humans’ ability to project into the future. Missing that function would relegate us to a perpetual present, preventing us from predicting and planning. That function is also a source of anxiety, however, causing us to worry about what may or may not happen. Typically, we worry – often excessively – about jobs, money, relationships, illness and death. Anxiety disorders affect over 40 million Americans and stress is almost pervasive. I believe all that anxiety and stress is an obstacle in our search for God. So here are some practical tips for minimizing feelings of anxiety. (I understand that it’s easy for me, a retired guy, to give advice to people who still have to make a living, compete, start or raise families and pay bills, but look at it this way: I have the leisure to think about such things and the hindsight for insight. I also understand that some of these...

Google Image A dozen years ago, I went to El Salvador after two massive earthquakes turned innumerable towns and villages into rubble and devastated innumerable lives. As organizer and translator, I accompanied three doctors who provided medicines and care. In one large town where the doctors were treating long lines of people, one of them asked me to change roles. Someone, he said, had to “treat” the emotional problems that resulted from losing husbands, children, siblings, parents, homes and schools. So like a sort of Lucy in the Peanuts cartoon with her 5-cent psychiatrist stand, I sat in a folding chair in a litter-strewn street and announced I would listen to anyone who wanted to talk. A long line soon formed behind the chair and I spent much of the next day or two listening to the horrors of earthquake destruction. Among the most disturbing stories was one from a distraught teen who told of watching a huge sink hole suddenly develop in the middle of her classroom. M...