The Virus of Faith

August 30, 2006

“For many people, part of growing up is killing off the virus of faith with a good strong dose of rational thinking. But if an individual doesn’t succeed in shaking it off, his mind is stuck in a permanent state of infancy, and there is a real danger that he will infect the next generation."  ─ Richard Dawkins

According to Richard Dawkins, Oxford professor, provocateur and evolution apologist, I’m infected by a virus called faith.  Until recently, I would have become angry upon hearing such an allegation – angry with the lies, the arrogance and, most of all, the person making the allegation. 

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Tuning Out, Tuning In

August 27, 2006

Seven years ago, a guy named Mike moved into my office.  At the time, I was only a casual Christian.  Mike was saved, and frankly he was a little scary.  He talked about prayer and the Holy Spirit.  He actually knew and quoted Scripture.  He had a strange and disturbing peace about him.  I didn’t like him very much.

In my new position, I was spending a lot of time working at my desk with my headphones on.  After about a month, Mike told me that I was filling up my head with too much noise. 

“You aren’t giving God a chance to talk to you,” Mike said.  “You listen to your car radio all the time too, don’t you?”  Man, was I mad.  “No, not all the time,” I said.  But I did.  Still, I didn’t see his point.  If God had something to say, He could surely speak louder than my car speakers.  Mike challenged me to go a week with the music off.  “Fine,” I said.  “No big deal.  I’ll humor you.”

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Why Care About Plan B?

August 24, 2006

Earlier today, the FDA approved an application to allow women 18 and over to purchase, without a prescription, the emergency contraceptive Plan B.  As described by an AP report,

“[Plan B] pills are a concentrated dose of the same drug found in many regular birth-control pills. When a woman takes the pills within 72 hours of unprotected sex, she can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. If she already is pregnant, the pills have no effect.”

Let me get this straight.  Plan B is nothing more than a high dose of a commonly-used birth control pill.  And if a woman is already pregnant, taking Plan B will have no effect.  Why has the religious right been fussing about this?  Where is the moral crisis?

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“Where does God stand on abortion?”

August 15, 2006

Yesterday, “The Nation’s Newspaper,” USA Today, ran an opinion piece, Where does God stand on abortion?, by Episcopal priest and author Tom Ehrich.  Despite his choice of title, Ehrich spends precious few words analyzing or discussing where God stands on abortion.  In the few words he devotes to God’s perspective, Ehrich declares that there are only a “few biblical passages that come even close to being relevant” to the issue of abortion, and then suggests that those few passages are open to competing interpretations of equal validity.  In short, “neither side [of the debate] can make an absolute [Biblical] case for or against abortion.”

With the Bible swept aside, Ehrich is left to contend that the “decision [of where God stands on abortion] ultimately comes down to . . . individuals.”  And what have individuals decided?  “[E]ach denomination – even those most publicly aligned with opposition to abortion, such as Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist – has a sizable minority that takes a different position.”  In other words, we humans – even the religious ones – are confused and in disagreement.  Amid the confusion, we should seek to position ourselves, according to Ehrich, in the “common-sense middle” rather than either “extreme.”

To recap the argument: 

1. the Bible contains almost nothing relevant to the question of abortion;  
2. the few arguably relevant Biblical passages are indeterminate; 
3. therefore, it is up to the individual to decide where God stands on abortion;  and
4. people with common sense stay near the middle, avoiding the extreme positions. 

My favorite step is the twist in the argument between #2 and #3.  What ought we do when God’s position is difficult to discern?  Father Ehrich suggests that each of us arrogate the power to decide what God’s position is.  As nice as it would be to have that kind of power, I respectfully decline. 

Swimming in Worldviews, at the Aquarium

August 10, 2006

This past weekend, my wife and I took our youngest daughter and some out-of-town friends to visit one of our favorite attractions, the National Aquarium in Baltimore.  The wildlife displays truly are spectacular, educational and entertaining for all ages.  During past visits, my eyes have been drawn to the spectacular and entertaining.  This time, I tried to focus on the Aquarium’s educational efforts.

In addition to the wealth of information describing the animals, their habits and their habitats, several exhibits included descriptions and pictures of environmental damage caused by the human race.  This is not surprising given that the Aquarium’s stated mission is “to stimulate interest in, develop knowledge about, and inspire stewardship of aquatic environments” (emphasis added).

What interested me most was trying to identify the worldview(s) to which the Aquarium is appealing in order to “inspire stewardship of aquatic environments.”

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Cycling: Did it drive Floyd Landis to self-destruct?

August 06, 2006

Training “takes so much time and energy – that’s why I did it in the first place. If you ride hard enough and long enough, you forget about everything else.” 

In retrospect, this pre-race quote from 2006 Tour de France champion Floyd Landis should have served as a warning to us that he might be particularly vulnerable to the temptation to cheat.  As one reporter thoughtfully observed, for Landis, “biking became so all-consuming: It filled in for God, for his family, for the security he’d given up.” 

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Fighting Perceptions

August 04, 2006

For the last couple days, I’ve followed the discussion on Ed Brayton’s blog, Dispatches From the Culture Wars, concerning his post Anti-Gay Bigotry in Action.  The harsh, unthinking treatment received by the Knight family, as suggested by Ed, seems insane.  But that is not my reason for sharing this post with you. 

The Christian in Politics: Two Key Attributes

August 01, 2006

I recommend reading an interesting interview of Michael Gerson, who until recently served as a speechwriter and adviser to President Bush.  Mr. Gerson touches on two particularly important characteristics of the faithful Christian participating in the political sphere.

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