Skeptical Faith

Google Image At my age, it’s hard to remember being a parent of young children. A recent visit by my son, his spouse and two children, one and three years old, was a reminder. If you’re good at it, as my son and his wife are, you are constantly sacrificing your own time and space for the children, dropping whatever you are doing to tend to their needs. For me, it is close to the kind of love prescribed for all of us in Jewish and Christian traditions, the kind of love I believe is needed for people searching for God. This love isn’t extraordinary, however, because it’s the love that normally exists between parents and children. Indeed, this kind of love is evident among many species of animals. What is extraordinary is this kind of love for people other than family members. So is this going to be one of those syrupy pieces about love, the kind that turns many people off? I hope not. I acknowledge that for many of us, the two “greatest commandments” of the Jewish and Ch...

Google Image I’ve had casual conversations with friends about “intelligence.” What constitutes intelligence? What are its properties? Some say it’s having a great memory. Others that it’s the ability to learn. Besides these, the dictionary says intelligence is “the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one’s environment” or “to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (tests).” I believe it’s all of the above, plus the ability to predict outcomes.  People who are successful in horse-race gambling have this kind of intelligence, I suspect. They study a horse and jockey and compare them to other horses and jockeys in the race, track conditions, and other relevant factors. But they also have seen a certain jockey-and-horse combo perform in similar situations and against similar competition and based on their experience, they correctly predict this combo will win, place or show. Other animals have this kind of intelligence, it seems. A crow in a laboratory know...

Google Image I know how nerdy this sounds, but as a child I used to watch ants, particularly the black and red ants that occupied the territory around a big tree in the parking near our front yard. The black and red ants were obvious enemies, frequently engaging in battles to the death. Though the red ants were about half the size of the black ants, the red ants sometimes got the better of the battles. And sometimes, when the two sides appeared to be at peace, I would try to stir them up by placing a black or red ant among those of the opposite group. It was great entertainment. We had no TV. My intervention was what some people would describe as God-like. Though we often want to pin our human failings on God, the God of Christians and Jews is nothing like that. How much, if any, culpability may we assign to God for what’s wrong with us and our world? And how should people searching for God react to conflict? We See Things Differently Conflict is, of course, as proper...

Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc in the movie, "The Founder" Google Image In a scene set in the mid-1950s in the movie, The Founder, Ray Kroc tells the McDonald brothers – the real founders of the fast-food giant – that eating at a McDonald’s should be “like going to church;” that nothing beats the beauty of American families sharing the meal of “a great product at a great price.” Michael Keaton, who played the part of Kroc, dripped insincerity and cynicism. Kroc ended up stealing the business from the brothers, who had started the innovative hamburger shop in San Bernadino, CA. In the process, he identified Christian and heroic values with American capitalism and in real life, Kroc was honored by President Ronald Reagan. Unlike Kroc, the McDonald brothers’ keen sense of ethics wouldn’t allow them to do virtually anything to “succeed.” Kroc did what he did because, having gained the upper hand legally, he could. The McDonald brothers faded into history, undoubtedly...