Skeptical Faith

Google Image Of all the media images related to the pandemic, none have affected me more than images of nursing-home residents deprived of visits from loved ones. Nursing-home residents are often shown sitting in front of a window trying to communicate with a spouse, daughter, son, or friend on the outside. But gesturing through glass is a poor substitute for a hug. Many nursing-home residents, I’m sure, deal with loneliness and isolation just at the time of their lives when they most need love and companionship. Undoubtedly the images affect me so because I’m of nursing-home age. I could easily be living in a nursing home. Were it not for my current good health, I would probably be there now. Mirror in the Face of Society Despite all its harm, the pandemic is placing a mirror in the face of society. For all our heralded internet connectedness, the ease with which we discover and invent new things, and for our scientific advances – including those in medicine – we don’t seem to h...

Google Image I wouldn’t tell you who to vote for or what party to support, but I do offer my opinions on what I believe people searching for God should look for in a candidate, whether running for president or weed commissioner. People searching for God, after all, aim to be God-like, not principally moved by party affiliation or tribe or the need to be seen as liberal or conservative. We’re not called to be culture warriors, but peacemakers, who are sorely needed in today’s toxic political climate. Those who seek belief as Christians need to make Christ-like decisions about everything. The Beatitudes, part of Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew’s gospel, are a summary of how people searching for God should live. They should be touchstone for how they vote. Poor in Spirit The beatitudes show that Jesus wants people searching for God to be poor in spirit and a comfort for people who mourn; to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, pure in heart...

Google Image Eight hundred years ago, St. Francis of Assisi went to Egypt where he visited Sultan Malik-al-Kamil. The journey entailed considerable hardship, given Francis’ scarce resources, the great distances to be traveled and differences of language, culture and religion. But that journey, undertaken at the time of the Crusades, demonstrates the height and breadth of St. Francis’ love, which sought to embrace everyone. His fidelity to God resulted in his love for his brothers and sisters. Unconcerned about the hardships and dangers, Francis went to meet the sultan with the same attitude that he instilled in his disciples: If they found themselves “among the Saracens and other nonbelievers,” without renouncing their own identity, they were not to “engage in arguments or disputes, but to be subject to every human creature for God’s sake.” Need for Openness and Unity This story is told at the outset of Pope Francis’ new encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti,” or “Brothers All.” The timing...

Google Image Evidently, the controversies surrounding the nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court of Amy Coney Barrett include an accusation that people who oppose her are resurrecting the anti-Catholicism of the past. This was news to me until I read a piece in the New York Times by Elizabeth Bruenig, a Times editorial writer who identifies as a Catholic. I still don’t think most Americans care what religion Barrett professes, just about her approach to the court and about what decisions she will make. But Bruenig does bring up an interesting issue: the old question of whether Catholicism is really compatible with American values. Catholicism, she writes, requires a commitment to values that reject “individualism, self-reliance, liberty, equality and tolerance” in favor of a “common good” philosophy. Clashes with American Values Although that may be true historically, Catholics’ views of politics and their role in society today differ little from those of people of any religion...

Google Image Most of us who are searching for God know that it’s hard to believe, and hard to be “good.” Many may have doubts about God’s existence, about the rationality of dogma, about the apparent contradictions in the Bible and mostly, about our own capacity to be God-like. Religious and non-religious people have been dealing with these issues throughout history. But apart from our apparent incapacity to be God-like is our genuine incapacity to grasp the reality of the transcendent God, that he/she is wrapped in analogy, packaged in an enigma. The fact that I feel compelled to continually use the annoying “he/she” illustrates the problem. According to all we know from the Bible and traditional theology, God has no gender. Yet we continue to think of God as a “he.” (Yes, God is a “he” in the Bible but scholars are of a mind that, considering the historical context, its authors had no choice but to use that designation.) A Proton Praying to a Thunderhead How can we grasp that G...