All posts tagged faith
I'm not always wearing my full habit...
The God Issue: New science of religion
Undercover Nun adoresNew Scientist, and this is a great set of pieces on faith and science.
In our enlightened world, god is still everywhere. In the UK, arguments rage over “militant atheism” and the place of religion in public life. In the US, religion is again taking centre stage in the presidential election. Try as we might, we just don’t seem to be able to let go.
Perhaps that is because we have been looking at god the wrong way. Atheists often see gods and religion as being imposed from above, a bit like a totalitarian regime. But religious belief is more subtle and interesting than that. In these articles we lay out a new scientific vision that promises to, if not resolve ancient tensions, at least reset the terms of the debate.
Thomas Edison’s last words were: ‘It’s very beautiful over there.’ I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I hope it’s beautiful.
(Source: d0pabrine, via rudysnotes)
What if all Christian fundamentalists are atheists, and sound ridiculous just to make more people atheists?
Well, they couldn’t do a much better job, then, could they?
Surprisingly — or perhaps not — there are fundamentalists in every faith. The fundamentalist Christians and Muslims get a whole lot of press, but you might be surprised to meet fundamentalist neo-pagans and fundamentalist atheists. I know they exist: I’ve met and talked with them.
Fundamentalism is comforting and easy: an authority figure tells you what to think, what to believe, and how to behave. Once you choose fundamentalism, you don’t have the burden of making decisions, because it’s all laid out for you. I can see the attraction some might have to this way of believing (or not-believing), but it makes my stomach queasy.
(Source: atheistjack, via revolutionofconsciousness)
What Perry gets wrong about religion in America
Undercover Nun knows you’ve seen and heard a lot of commentary on Rick Perry’s latest ad. You know, the one with gay commie Aaron Copland music and the Brokeback Mountain outfit and the really, really, truly terrible content. So I beg your indulgence as I point out yet one more piece, written by a bishop of The Episcopal Church for whom I have great admiration and respect.
Rick Perry would be pathetic, if he weren’t so infuriating. In an effort to revive a sinking political campaign, Gov. Perry has reached a new low in promoting himself in a recent commercial.
The governor begins this 30 second spot with “I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian.” He goes on to say things that Christians should be ashamed of him for.
“You don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.”
…
Christians everywhere should be alarmed that a candidate for our nation’s highest office would play fast and loose with both the Constitution and our men and women in uniform. It would be simply pathetic that Gov. Perry would do so in an effort to entice conservative voters, if it weren’t such an abuse of religion and a violation of the Constitution.
Gov. Perry is right about one thing. There is something wrong in America. But surely it begins with disloyalty to our brave troops in the field and violation of the hard-won separation between church and state which protects all Americans.
Go read the whole piece. It’s short and should only take you a few minutes, and it’s worth your time.
Faith claims its place in the Occupy movement
Downtown Dewey Square is crammed with tents and tarps of Occupy Boston protesters, but organizers made sure from the start of this weeks-old encampment that there was room for the holy.
No shoes are allowed in the “Sacred Space” tent here, but you can bring just about any faith or spiritual tradition.
A day’s schedule finds people balancing their chakras, a “compassion meditation” and a discussion of a biblical passage in Luke. Inside, a Buddha statue sits near a picture of Jesus, while a hand-lettered sign in the corner points toward Mecca.
The tent is one way protesters here and in other cities have taken pains to include a spiritual component in their occupations. …..
Undercover Nun is exceedingly glad to hear this. The entire bible, from Hebrew scripture to gospel, condemns the wealthy for hoarding and demands that we care for the widow and orphan, that we feed the hungry and house the homeless, that we make sure there is a place for every single person among us.
Religion isn’t required to see this as pretty basic good values. All persons should be respected and accorded dignity and basic human rights. All persons should have sufficient nutrition and clean water and access to education and breathable air and meaningful work. It’s just that religion compels many of us to double our efforts. It’s not that I fear punishment in hell; it’s that I don’t want to let God down. You remember the first time your mom or dad ever looked at you with that “I am so disappointed with you” expression? It was worse than being yelled at, wasn’t it? I know I disappoint God a lot, and I so don’t want to see that expression on God’s face.
Proof of god. Proof of no god?
The concept of god is absurd. I’m very sure of my non-belief.
There is as much a chance of god existing as the small fish I keep in an aquarium on the bathroom counter being able to talk when it’s not being observed, and as much proof as well.
I am truly glad you have found such certainty. I find that the evidence for the existence of a god isn’t in, one way or the other. At our current state of scientific and technological accomplishment, we can neither prove that there is a god nor can we empirically prove that there is not.
A deity may be an absurd concept, but there are so very many hilariously (or frustratingly) absurd things that do exist in our world. The duck-billed platypus is easy. Belly buttons are certainly silly things. Hallucinogenic mushrooms are pretty absurd: how in the world is that an advantage to select for?!
For myself, no matter how absurd the stories of Judaism and Christianity may be — and I have to tell you, the entire story of Jesus is utterly ridiculous! — no matter how little (if any) evidence there is that points to the existence of God, this is what I choose to believe.
Faith is not some ephemeral feeling, and it isn’t something that you can have more of or less of. Faith is a choice. Faith is a conscious and deliberate decision, which each of us makes based on our experiences and learnings. The intentional choice of faith integrates the knowledge of our mind and heart and “gut.” Questioning and doubt are not the opposites of faith, but are absolutely required to form our faith. The faith of a five-year-old is not (should not be, maybe even can not be) the same as the faith of a fifty-year-old.
I have to tell you, I am not at all sure in my belief in the triune God. If there were a way to be sure and certain, it would not be faith. Some days, my brain completely rebels against one of the basic doctrines (the Resurrection? Puh-leeze!) or against a scriptural story (did Elisha really sic a bear on the neighborhood kids? Really?!). And that’s okay. The God I choose to believe in gives us each a brain and expects us to use it.
Peace be with you, friend. I don’t expect (or intend!) to bring you to theism. But I’d appreciate the acceptance and respect for my faith that I extend to all persons.
You’re right to say that atheism is a lack of faith. Mr. Allain is not speaking about faith by using this as an example; what the words actually say instead is, “I knew I was an atheist when I found that I couldn’t imagine fingers as people.” I very carefully stated that most atheists I know have rich imaginative lives. But by tweeting this statement, Mr. Allain (I hope, unintentionally) equates atheism and an inability to engage in pretend-play or imaginative games.
A quick digression: Faith is not blind belief. Faith isn’t something that anyone has more of or less of, and it’s not a gift that can be bestowed or withheld. Faith is not the opposite of doubt; in fact, doubt and question are essential for faith. Faith is an action, an intentional and conscious choice.
Faith is wrestling with the world around you, with the entire cosmos, with the things you understand, the things you don’t understand, and the things we may never be able to understand. Faith is formed when you bring in the things you’ve learned in school with your mind, and the things you’ve experienced with your body, and the things you’ve encountered with your heart and spirit, and you integrate those into yourself. Faith is what you choose to believe.
It doesn’t take faith to sit down with your mom or dad and play “Here’s the church, here’s the steeple,” and to imagine those wiggling fingers as people inside a building. It doesn’t take faith to sing the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” song and see your fingers as spiders or as rain. And it’s as wrong to conflate “good imagination” with “theist” as it is to equate “lack of imagination” with “atheist.”
This is why I posted. Mr. Allain’s tweet, implying that atheism is an inability to grasp metaphor or a lack of imagination, is disingenuous and flat-out wrong.
I actually kinda like it. I don’t think it’s a lack of imagination, but rather simple lack of faith. Because all we know about heaven, is based on what we’re taught and what we believe—faith. When you don’t have faith, you simple just don’t see it. You can imagine all you want, but it just doesn’t seem right.I believe I have a decent imagination. I’m pretty much daydreaming every moment of the day and I’m going through a second puberty which is probably fuelling it. And I absolutely adore theorising with theology. There’s so much to talk about and imagine the possibilities, because we may never know whether those are fingers or people. Not until we die. And it’s all about faith. I just never had. Even when ai was raised catholic. And not because of my transition. And even as a Buddhist, I still don’t believe in reincarnation. I don’t think it’s a lack of imagination, because I can easily imagine who I could’ve been in a previous life if that were the thing. I just think it’s a complete and utter lack of faith—in specifically that, on my part at least, and somehow I just think that’s different from imagination. *shrugs*
On eremites, faith, and a great novel
I just finished reading a sweet and engaging novel, “The Feast of Saint Bertie” by Kathleen Popa. It follows the story of a woman in her 50s, from the day of her husband’s funeral following a 6-year decline due to Parkinson’s disease. On this very day an arsonist sets fire to their home, leaving her with no husband, a missing 25-year-old son, no home, and no possessions but the clothes she was wearing.
Bertie — shortened from Roberta — is a well-to-do professional woman in Silicon Valley, a faithful Baptist, and shaken far more than she knows. And yet, she knows she is called into the religious life, into deeper relationship with God… even if she doesn’t really have the knowledge, tools, or understanding to make it work on her own. What she does have is a hermitage: a 120-square-foot shed in the mountains.
Bertie’s journey through the book feels very authentic; it’s like you’re sitting in a rocking chair as she tells you her story. It’s also an incredibly powerful story, one of intentionally going from riches to rags, of seeking the very essence of human living, of needing each other and never truly managing to go it alone.
On Kindle, this novel cost me less than $2.00, but I treasure it now as one of the most meaningful books I’ve read so far this year. I yearned for a mountain retreat like Bertie’s, for friends like those she found in this story, for the connection she found not only with God and other people but with the earth as well. This was more than a good read.
Science goes only so far, then comes God.
Noah Calhoun, The Notebook (via thepapacyisawesome)
Theoretical physicists and abstract mathematicians are almost always profound theologians… whether they claim to hold theistic beliefs or not. It’s because they live out on the frontiers of human knowledge and understanding, learning each day just how much we do not — can not? — know.
(Source: thepapacyandlestradeareawesome, via radioteopoli)
Is your church dangerous?
Are your adult Sunday school offerings dull and ill-attended? Try out this discussion topic!
In Virginia, we have a statute that says
If any person carry any gun, pistol, bowie knife, dagger or other dangerous weapon, without good and sufficient reason, to a place of worship while a meeting for religious purposes is being held at such place he shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.
Now, setting aside the right of any property owner to forbid objects and behaviors on the property, any interpretation of good and sufficient reason, any constitutional arguments, and even Attorney General Cuccinelli’s interpretation of this statute, I invite you to think about the following questions. (Seriously, try to banish all those legal things from your mind, while we delve into spiritual questions.)
What do you think it means to be holding a meeting for religious purposes? Does this include worship?
- Education offerings?
- Vestry / church council / elder meetings?
- Committee meetings?
- Potlucks and other fellowship occasions?
- Wedding and funeral receptions?
- Twelve-step meetings?
- Scout meetings?
- Neighborhood civic league meetings?
- A soup kitchen?
Are there things around the church that could be considered dangerous or weapons? Think outside the kitchen, the tool closet, and the craft rooms.
- The processional cross? (See Julia Spencer-Fleming for questions on this one!)
- The budget from the vestry / church council / elders?
- The rules / policies / procedures?
- The doctrine of the church?
- The stained glass?
- The bible? The gospel book?
- The sermons of the priest / pastor / minister?
- The baptismal font? The water of baptism?
- The bread and wine?
- The consecrated Body and Blood (if you believe that these have meaning beyond being a memorial)?
- Oil for anointing?
- A book of prayers?
- Prayers themselves?
- The people?
What’s the difference between something being dangerous and being a weapon? Jesus was dangerous - he still is! But is Jesus a weapon?
What happens if we remove everything from our church that could be dangerous or a weapon? What would be left?
I expect that you could have some interesting discussion around some of these questions. Maybe they’d even stimulate some projects for the good of the Kingdom!
I’m interested to hear thoughtful and on-topic responses to these questions, too. (On-topic means we’re still setting aside all the legal stuff. There are plenty of other blog threads around for talking about that.)
