Skeptical Faith

Google Image I once volunteered to help with a program at a huge, state mental health institute. It involved a brief training in an experimental process for helping profoundly catatonic patients “wake up,” if even for a short period. As I recall, it was loosely based on a widely recognized but largely obsolete procedure called logotherapy. That term is derived from the Greek word “logo,” which translates into “meaning.” The therapy, invented by Holocaust survivor and renowned psychologist, Victor Frankl, in this case involved small group “discussions” about subjects that presumably had nothing to do with the traumas that resulted in the patients’ condition. With a group of women – with whom I worked on a hospital ward – it meant finding subjects about which they may have once been interested. In those days, the topics included gardening, sewing, child-rearing, etc. The hope was that the women would be interested in one of the topics and “forgetting” her condition, offer an o...

Google Image  I was captivated by the 2008 movie, Slumdog Millionaire. But apart from the intriguing plot about a slum-dwelling boy who is about to win the grand prize on the Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” the beautifully filmed movie was a challenge to my faith.  The problem came from viewing scenes of the enormous slums where millions of people live in unimaginable poverty. It wasn’t the problem that many see, the one prompting the question, “How can a loving God allow this?” Poverty is our problem, seems to me. God depends on us to solve it, to properly care for our brothers and sisters, and we’re not doing a bang-up job. No, the thought struck me that Christian theology teaches that God knows and loves each of those people, each one waiting in the long lines to use the communal latrines, each one looking for a way to eke out a living. This idea of God is pretty basic to Christianity at least. Matthew’s gospel describes a pep talk Jesus give...

Google Image The question, “What Would Jesus Do?” has become popular in Christian circles. It undoubtedly annoys a lot of people who have given up on God and/or religion, unbelievers, and even some believers. “What does Jesus have to do with anything?” they may ask. “He lived 2,000 years ago. What could his ideas and opinions have to do with my problems, or those of contemporary society?” Understandable questions. But asking what Jesus would do is perfectly rational for somebody who has committed to being a Christian. That, after all, means being a follower of Christ, so how could you not ask the question about how he would approach a situation or problem? One problem is that the question may not be easy to answer. Some of what is attributed to Jesus in the Bible is ambiguous or open to interpretation, so we have to work at determining, with the help of scholars, what the passages mean in context and then apply them to the situation. But even if we do find an answer, we ma...

Google Image I would guess there are more maxims about gratitude than just about any other subject. Their sheer number must mean that people recognize the value of gratitude and long for it even though it may be among the hardest attitudes to maintain. One of my favorite gratitude quotes is attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, the French political writer and historian: “Gratitude is a habit of the heart.” You may have to work at it, but once habitual, gratitude stays with you, benefiting you and others. Besides the adages, lots of artists, writers and musicians have dealt with the subject. Back in the 1970s, after I became familiar with Latin America and its causes, I was a big fan of a famous Argentinian singer named Mercedes Sosa. She sang “protest songs” and others which today may be considered naïve and sentimental. One of my favorites was written by Chilean Violeta Parra called “Gracias a la Vida.” Those of you familiar with Spanish know that means “Thanks to Life.” ...

Google Image Religious leaders often complain about secularism, which may leave younger people scratching their heads. That’s because secularism, probably imperceptible to people under 50, appears to older people to have advanced at an incredible pace in the last 20-30 years. The dictionary defines it as “indifference to or rejection or exclusion of religion and religious considerations.” It was on my mind during the recent celebration of Easter. It seems to be all about bunnies and eggs. What they have to do with the meaning of Easter is beyond me, but that’s what seems to matter to many people. Christmas is similar. In the U.S., at least, it’s mostly about merchandizing. For religious people, it’s annoying because it ignores the meaning of religious holidays. (If I were head of the Worldwide Religious Council, which as far as I know is non-existent, I would pick another date for the celebration of Jesus’ birthday and leave Dec. 25 to the Macy’s and Walmarts.) I think secula...

  Google Image I’m reading a novel by Jodi Picoult called The Pact. It’s about a boy and girl who grow up as neighbors, are inseparable from childhood and become teenaged sweethearts. The girl begins feeling smothered by the relationship and, seeing no way to avoid disappointing the boy, his parents and her parents – who were also best friends - she becomes desperate to the point of taking her own life. She enlists the boy to help her shoot herself and he becomes the principle suspect in what authorities believe to have been a homicide, not a suicide. The families are torn apart and inconsolable. They become enemies. The book does a good job exploring the dreadful world of teen suicide and its effects on families. It’s hard to imagine losing a son or daughter to suicide. Often accompanied by the bitterness of guilt and anger, it must be among the most devastating events that can occur in one’s life. Last week, I mentioned Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonh...

Google Image   “There are no atheists in foxholes,” says a maxim ascribed to the famous war correspondent, Ernie Pyle. As you may recall, much of World War I and some of World War II was fought in “foxholes” – holes dug by soldiers from which to fire their weapons and protect themselves from incoming fire. That was before supersonic fighter jets and drones, a time when war was still up-close and personal. The maxim exaggerates, of course. There undoubtedly are some atheists in foxholes, but the idea is that when in a situation so horrifying like that of a soldier in a foxhole, people overcome with fear suspend doubt in a desperate hope that God will save them. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a long-time hero of mine, commented on this phenomenon in his “Letters and Papers from Prison,” a book I highly recommend. A Lutheran minister and theologian executed by the Nazis in 1945, he lamented the quality of conversions among fellow prisoners who feared torture and execution. He worr...