Skeptical Faith

Google Image I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard criticism of “organized religion” - that it tries to force its tenets down the throats of the rest of society, that it defends and promotes reactionary ideas, that it is a relic of a dark past that has no place in modern society. I’m always tempted to ask whether the critics would prefer “unorganized religion,” and that if religion forces its tenets down other people’s throats, what do adherents of the Democratic and Republican parties and other secular organizations do? As for it being a relic, that may be critics’ wishful thinking. Though religious affiliation has dropped in the U.S., it has increased in many parts of the world. According to the web site, World Population Review, “a bout 85% of the world's people identify with a religion.” And according to an average of all 2021 Gallup polling, “about three in four Americans said they identify with a specific religious faith. By far the largest proportion, 69%, identify with ...

Google Image I’m hooked on a Netflix series called “Alone.” It’s about a group of 10 experienced outdoors people who are taken to remote areas, each left alone with limited gear, no food, and cameras to document their stay. They can have plastic tarps, bows and arrows, fishing line and some trapping equipment, and a telephone to be used only if they want to quit. This year’s show promises $500,000 to the last one to do so. It’s fascinating to see how they go about planning their time and doing what is needed to survive in the wilderness. They are dropped off in the fall in isolated spots that are near bodies of water. They anticipate a brutal winter. Do you focus first on building a shelter or getting food? Some build great shelters but are lax in the food-gathering department. Others ardently hunt and fish and try to guarantee a food supply and neglect their shelters. Most are chronically hungry and are reduced to eat such “delicacies” as squirrel eyeballs. Reaction To Being A...

Google Image Those of you of a certain age may remember Daniel Ellsberg, the American political activist, economist and military analyst who was at the center of a national political controversy in 1971 when he released what was to be known as “the Pentagon Papers.” Wikipedia describes the papers as “a top-secret Pen tagon  study of U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War,” which Ellsberg released to The New York Times, the Washington Post and other newspapers. At the time, it seemed like an act bordering on treason. He was charged under the Espionage Act of 1917, which carried a maximum sentence of 115 years. Because of governmental misconduct and illegal evidence-gathering (committed by the same people who would later be involved in the Watergate Scandal), all charges against him were eventually dropped, and many believe Ellsberg’s revelations were a great service to the government and to the American public. What He's Learned from...

Google Image Kathleen Kalt, who is 68 and lives in Florida, was raised a Catholic. She says she lost her faith in the first grade when she discovered there is no Santa Claus. She had discovered a bike in her family’s storage room that she knew was a Christmas gift, not a gift from Santa. “My brain just went: tooth fairy, Easter bunny, God. It took less than a minute, a very traumatic minute. I realized I was on my own at 6 years old,” she told Jessica Grose, who writes a New York Times newsletter. Kalt said she doesn’t believe in God, but observes Buddhist rituals, adding that she “will often say the rosary as a meditation because it’s second nature to me.” Kalt was among people Grose interviewed for a series of stories about “nones,” the term for those who have answered “none” on questionnaires about religious affiliation. That group has grown substantially in the last few years, worrying religious leaders and apparently cheering people who believe that religion is nonsense. The...