Skeptical Faith

Google Image Imagine a world in which nobody lies. Now imagine a world in which lying is illegal and enforced by law enforcement officers who “speculate” about who is lying and who isn’t. That’s the idea behind a futuristic novel by Ben Winters called “Golden State,” evoking that far-western state whose license plates bear this name. I haven’t read the book itself, only a review of it by Lynn Neary on National Public Radio’s web site. But I found the idea fascinating, and repulsive. Although this idea is a setting for a crime story, it provides insight into the quest for truth. "There is a constant collective effort in the Golden State to reinforce the truth in small ways and large," Winters says. "It is a place that is not only dedicated to the preservation of reality — it is worshipful of the truth.” Just Different Enough In creating the Golden State, writes Neary, Winters says he wanted to build a world just different enough that readers would have to...

Google Image I often criticize religion in these blogs for its lack of relevance. I believe many people agree, asking themselves “Why do I need it? I’m comfortable living my life as is. Religion has nothing to do with my life.” The trick for religion is making itself relevant without giving up its fundamental principles; otherwise, it has nothing to say to modern society. One way of doing this, in the case of Christianity, is by continual review of its fundamental principles – making sure they are in line with what Jesus taught - and speaking about them in a clear, “non-churchy” way. I realize, of course, that “relevance” is personal and subjective. For some people, it means isolating their thoughts and judgments from objective criteria. But many decide what is relevant mostly from what society currently approves and promotes. For them, being current is definitive in deciding what matters and what’s right and wrong. Their principal argument against religion is that it’s “old ...

Google Image In the promos for the TV series, “The Story of God,” Morgan Freeman asks, “What happens when someone sees, or feels, the presence of God?” For people for whom the “rational” is absolute, any answer to this question is merely “anecdotal,” not worthy of consideration in debates about what matters. And while I agree that anecdotes are insufficient in decisions such as what medicine to take, I believe a large quantity of witnesses over a long period – such as with the Judeo-Christian tradition in religion – carries a lot of weight. Our courts recognize this in the importance given to eye-witness accounts. So the book, “Why Religion? A Personal Story,” by Princeton University religious historian Elaine Pagels, is helpful. In the book’s Introduction, she describes herself as a “historian who talks about human beings and the cultures we create.” The book’s central question appears to be why religion is still around in the 21 st century. Fulfills a Need “Everyt...

Google Image One night during Hanukkah this year, two Jewish children disappeared from their home about two hours northwest of New York City, according to a story in the New York Times. Two days later, the children were with members of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect in Mexico. A Brooklyn man was charged with kidnapping the children, accused of conspiring with members of the religious group Lev Tahor to kidnap the siblings and take them south of the border. “Lev Tahor, which translates to “pure heart” in Hebrew, is an offshoot of an anti-Zionist Hasidic sect. Members of the group practice a strict form of Orthodox Judaism. The group reportedly eschews technology and requires its female members to wear black robes from head to toe.   “Over the years, children in Lev Tahor have often been subjected to ‘physical, sexual and emotional abuse,’” according to the criminal complaint. Fanaticism in Many Religions I hesitate to get into this blog using the example of Jewish ...