Skeptical Faith

Google Image In several of her books, the famous novelist, Anne Lamott, has written often about her struggles with doubt. “I have a lot of faith,” she wrote in Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith .  “ But I am also afraid a lot and have no real certainty about anything.” She remembered, however, something a beloved priest told her, “that the opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.” I would bet that everyone who is searching for God, no matter the “amount” of faith, has had doubt, whether they’re willing to acknowledge it or not. Just as I imagine most agnostics and atheists have doubts about their positions. Need Not Fight Doubt In my opinion, we need not fight doubt. We have doubt because God made us rational beings who test everything. The apostle Peter doubted. That’s why he denied Jesus. The disciples on the road ...

Google Image  The short answer, in my opinion as a lifelong and practicing Catholic, is “yes.” There’s no doubt that Catholic doctrine and tradition impose more responsibility on its members than many other churches. This causes anxiety and exaggerated feelings of guilt in some of its members. But I believe the concept of “Catholic guilt” is exaggerated, cited often by critics and comedians, including Catholic comedians. So, for me, the longer answer to the question posed in the title is, “not for Catholics who know and understand their church’s teachings.” Still, I acknowledge that as a religion that is over 2,000 years old, it has more than its share of complex teachings, many of which lead to misunderstanding. I’m writing about this subject because my Internet search engine recently had an article on its main page called, “What is Catholic Guilt and Do You Suffer from It?” Laced with a Dig Clicking on the title takes you to a series of slides with text under stock photos...

Google Image I’ve written often in these blogs about the need to care for the environment, not as part of any political position but because I believe caring for our common home is a required commitment of people searching for God. But readership for blogs about the environment is always low, according to the data my blog program tracks. For one thing, people take the environment for granted. It’s just there. Why should I have to do anything to protect it? Secondly, people feel powerless. What can I do to make any real difference? Third, people – especially young people - are pessimistic about humanity’s efforts to make environmental progress. Overcoming the obstacles seems unreachable. A recent news report may help free people from the last objection. “News reports about environmental degradation are plentiful,” writes German Lopez in a recent New York Times Morning Report, “but there may be reason to be optimistic.” Environmental Scientists As part of his reporting, he spoke ...

Franz Jaggerstatter, Google Image Several times in these blogs, starting in 2015, I’ve written about one of my heroes, Franz Jaggerstatter. That’s because back in college I was so impressed with the book, “ In Solitary Witness. The Life and Death of Franz Jägerstätter” by Gordon Zahn. I suppose one of the things that drew me to Jagerstatter is the fact that he was “an ordinary guy,” an Austrian farmer who tried to avoid the fatal conflict between his faith and the political and military juggernaut that seemed to be conquering the world. Jaggerstatter was born out-of-wedlock and his father was killed in the First World War when Jaggerstatter was eight. His fellow villagers, according to Wikipedia, remembered the young Franz as "a jolly, robust, fun-loving, hot-blooded, 'he-man' type," intelligent and "bull-headed," who tended to be "ahead of the crowd" in his interests and the first to try something new; he was the first in his village to own a ...