Skeptical Faith

Google Image I have a friend who recently posted a beautiful quote online from a famous eastern mystic. I liked it, but it occurred to me that he would never post a saying of Jesus. It just wouldn’t be cool! Why? This is pure conjecture, but I believe that one of the principal reasons is that Jesus has become so connected with the Christian right, his appeal has been lost to many people who don’t place themselves in that category. A Pew survey last year found that “religious teachings” are the top reason many adults answer “none” when asked about their religious affiliation. That reason has been around a long time. But, the survey found “the second-most-common reason is opposition to the positions taken by churches on social and political issues, cited by 49 percent of respondents.” Who Objects? Some of those respondents, of course, could be people on the right who object to the teachings of “liberal” denominations. But I believe it’s much more the case that people on the ...

Google Image I have a friend who is the eternal pessimist. His outlook is almost always dismal. He looks at life through the lens of Murphy's Law - anything that can go wrong will. Pessimists like him may find this suspect, but researchers who tracked the health outcomes of thousands of adults across many years found optimists were much more likely to reach age 85. They also found that optimism is teachable. The study, reported last month on the National Public Radio web site, finds that optimistic people are likelier than others to live to be 85 years old or more. Researchers at Boston and Harvard Universities found that outcomes were independent of factors such as "socioeconomic status, health conditions, depression, social integration, and health behaviors.” Researchers already knew that optimistic people have less depression, heart disease and other chronic diseases. In this study, they wanted to learn whether optimism is linked to longevity. And unlike some...

Google Image I was fortunate to have had a career I loved. The pay was not great and the hours were unpredictable. But often during my 25 years as a reporter/editor, I sometimes thought I should pay the newspaper instead of them paying me. (I never mentioned this to the bosses, of course.) I found the work that interesting and challenging. Still, there were times I didn’t look forward to going to work. There were Sunday evenings on which I talked my spouse into going to the movies to try to extend the weekend. This kind of ambiguity may be one reason I found conflicting online studies about job satisfaction when preparing this blog. While one article says the majority of people are dissatisfied, others, such as a newly-released report from Gallup, shows that the majority of people are mostly satisfied with their jobs. I’m going with the unscientific hunch that there are at least three groups: those who love their jobs most of the time; those who hate their jobs most of the ...

Google Image According to legend, around the year 1220 when St. Francis of Assisi was living in Gubbio, Italy, a fierce wolf began attacking livestock. And then it began attacking humans. It waited outside the city gates for anyone foolish enough to venture beyond them alone. No weapon was capable of subduing the wolf and anyone who tried to destroy it was attacked. Eventually, the public refused to go outside the city walls. Francis announced he was going to meet the wolf. When he neared the wolf’s den, a small crowd accompanying him stayed back but was close enough to witness what happened. Placing Its Head in His Hands The wolf rushed at Francis with its jaws open, the story goes. Francis made the sign of the Cross and commanded the wolf to cease its attacks in the name of God, at which point the wolf trotted up to him docilely and lay at his feet, placing its head in his hands. "Brother wolf,” said Francis, “you have done much evil in this land, destroying and...

Pope Francis and Emanuele I recently came across a moving story about a boy who was among children chosen to ask Pope Francis a question during the pope’s visit to a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Rome last year. The boy stepped to the microphone but couldn’t bring himself to ask his question. After a long pause, he said, “I can’t.” The pope asked him to come whisper the question in his ear, then asked the boy’s permission to repeat the question out loud. “A little while ago, my father passed away,” the pope quoted the boy, Emanuele, as saying. “He was a non-believer (but) … he was a good man. Is my Dad in heaven?” Only God Decides As a point of clarification, the pope first gently responded, “God is the one who decides who goes to heaven.” Then, just as gently, he asked Emanuele, “What is God’s heart like with a Dad like that? What do you think? … God has a Dad’s heart. …Does God abandon his children when they are good? ” For a cynic, or even a theologian, this may...