Skeptical Faith

Google Image For many of us in the western world, a glut of obstacles impedes the search for God. In my view, they include indulgent prosperity, religious illiteracy, damaging sex, secularism and “busyness.” (As I’ve mentioned before in these blogs, secularism is not necessarily a bad thing. It does, however, fail to provide the social support for belief that was present in earlier ages.) Of all these obstacles – and there are undoubtedly many more I haven’t included – busyness is perhaps the most pernicious in its subtlety. In our culture, busyness may seem inevitable, even normal. However, it impedes the search for God on at least two levels: it leaves us with little time to pursue belief, and it robs us of the calm and thoughtfulness necessary to do so.   Why Are You Afraid? James Martin, S.J., in his book, “Jesus, A Pilgrimage,” uses the gospel story of the calming of the storm to illustrate the problem. As you may recall the story, Jesus and his disciples e...

Google Image Years ago, a colleague at The Des Moines Register related what happened when he was covering members of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS, who were protesting something or other at the state capitol in Des Moines. I don’t recall the issue involved, but the signs and speeches of Westboro members against people whom they were protesting were vicious. Among the Westboro protesters, as I recall, was a boy of about 10 years old, son of one of the church’s leaders. When my colleague asked him if he thought protesting in such a way didn’t show disrespect toward others, the boy simply said, “F*** you!”   Westboro, which appears to seek out publicity like a heat-seeking missile seeks a target, recently picketed the funeral of Beau Biden, son of vice president Joe Biden, in Delaware. According to the confusing information on Westboro’s web site – whose address is godhatesfags.com – the protest was against the vice president for “ training Beau Biden...

Google Image My admiration for Pope Francis is no secret to readers of this blog. So what’s his greatest contribution to the modern world? In my opinion, it’s his oft-quoted conviction that God is not just the God of Catholics, or even of Christians, but the God of EVERYONE. This may not seem like a big deal, but it’s a sea-change for religious leaders, especially Catholics. The focus of the church has been on “members,” who are considered to be “the Body of Christ,” a “Sacred People,” “a Chosen Race” – concepts that come from the Bible but have been used to justify exclusivity. Consequently, the vast majority of the church’s time and energy has been spent on members:   masses, services and sacraments, schools, visiting members in hospitals, preparing and delivering homilies. Very little time and energy has been spent reaching out to the “unchurched,” the indifferent, the marginalized, the unbelievers, all of whom were the focus of Jesus’ efforts. In public and private pr...

Google Image Most of us grew up as Christians or Jews. We went to Mass, Sunday school or Hebrew School. We heard fantastic stories about Moses and Abraham, Peter, Paul and Jesus. At least in our early years, many of us wanted to “be like them,” to always love God and others. Then we grew up, and all of those stories and our reaction to them seemed childish. We learned that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny were bogus. Surely God is, too. We may have also noticed that many adults don’t take religion seriously, so why should we? We may have learned in college that the world and all that is in it resulted from random natural selection, not from a seven-day creation spree by an invisible God. And we may have concluded that reason and faith are incompatible. So what about now? Is our indifference or hostility to faith due to an intellectual commitment to the truth or to some vague notion that those beliefs, experiences and aspirations of childhood are childish? Or is it simp...

Google Image (This is my 100th weekly blog. Thank you to my readers – those who read them regularly and those who look at them occasionally. I hope they’re helpful in the search for God. A special thanks to those who have provided feedback. If you have comments or suggestions, please use the blog to provide them or e-mail me at carneyconsulting@msn.com . With the publication of last week’s blog, I’ve had 15,043 page views or about 152 page views per week, a number which has changed very little in the past year or so. It’s far from “viral,” but I’ll take it gratefully.)  Years ago, when my wife’s 18-year-old niece was visiting from Colombia, we went to a basketball game at the high school my children attended. The niece was sitting on the bleachers with us and suddenly during half-time, she got up and walked across the middle of the basketball floor to talk to somebody on the other side. I was struck by how unusual that behavior was compared to that of most American high s...

Google Image Prominent in recent news reports is the not-surprising disclosure that the U.S. is less Christian, and that fewer Americans choose to be a part of any religion. It’s not surprising because the country has been trending that way for years. Anyway, a new study by the Pew Research Center , which surveyed more than 35,000 people, found that 70 percent of Americans say they are Christian. That compares with 78 percent in 2007. And, the number of people calling themselves atheist and agnostic has nearly doubled in the last seven years. “The decrease of religious feeling seems especially pronounced among young adults, but also includes people of all ages, ethnicities, incomes and educational backgrounds,” according to a recent National Public Radio report. The Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., says the survey shows a majority of the nation still identifies as religious. But he tells NPR's Scott Simon that organized religion ...

Google Image Every year at this time I’m astonished again at the beauty of creation. You would think that at my age, all the wonder and awe would have disappeared. But to me, every spring is a miracle. I walk around my neighborhood viewing carpets of green that were a cheerless brown a few weeks ago. Trees and shrubs are exuberant in showing off their blooms and new leaves. Tulips and morning glories rise in splendor. The sun warms everything, including human hearts. “How could there not be a God?” I ask myself. I know, however, that people who don’t believe in God may have similar experiences in “intuiting” God’s non-existence. Where is he/she? Isn’t it strange that in all these centuries God has not revealed him/herself (assuming that you dismiss the Hebrew and Christian Bibles and the witness of thousands of generations of people of faith)? Isn’t it just wishful thinking combined with humans’ inexhaustible capacity for self-deceit that leads us to believe in God? The...