Faith & Doubt

stabbtastic editor's note: This is, as yet, an unfinished string of thought. The style of which falls decidely outside of my usual, but I'm posting it in hopes that its presence in the public ether will behoove me to wrap it up. Or at least attempt to. Or, barring that, at least throw out a few more reckless meanderings, worthy of slappable contempt. If that could possibly be confused with something that means anything...

Though I am actually posting this on August 3, 2006, the original date on my draft tells me that I started it about a year ago, which means the subject matter demands enormous amounts of "time" and "effort" on my part, but could also reveal that I'm "lazy" and prefer "video games."

Organized Religion: Faith & Doubt

Nothing is scarier to the faithful than doubt. To the faithful, nothing carries with it such a dark taint as uncertainty. Some one who has put all their eggs in one basket for emotional and supposed spiritual stability can become offended when it is raised to question, possibly to the point of insult and violence, for in most people’s case, reason has already left the table. To the faithful masses, it becomes a matter of what is “right,” as in it’s not “right” to shake the easily crumbled foundations of their belief. The truth is, nobody knows the truth. The faithful will argue that they do indeed know, when in fact they merely believe so completely that they’ve convinced themselves beyond any shadow of a doubt.

Sister Mary Michael of the Lincoln Cathedral said this about the filming of “The Da Vinci Code”: “I don’t think it’s right that they are filming this story here. I know the bishop and dean argue it is fiction – and it might even be brilliant fiction – but it is against the very essence of what we believe.”

So what if it is? Is she in danger of changing her mind? If her belief is so secure, this shouldn’t even faze her because she is “right.” There must be a shadow of a doubt the haunts back hallways of her mind, an ego in danger of tarnish if a fictional story can threaten her so. And her distinction between the two is clouded and self-serving. Her beliefs lie in fiction, yet she doesn’t see it that way. She believes one book, not the other. One is “right,” the other, “brilliant fiction.” If the Bible and Quran aren't the most brilliant pieces of fiction out there, I don’t know what else could be, for no other books have galvanized people so and ultimately polarized the world more than these two preachy, astonishingly seductive works of folklore and fairy tale.

And indeed, they have all the ingredients for a wonderful fantasy tale: heroic and humble protagonists, vile and corruptive antagonists, magic and mystery, the unanswerable, catastrophic failures and glorious redemption. Yet somehow, these particular books turned to fact in people’s minds rather than something like “Beowulf” or even C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia,” a collection so steeped in Christianity, one wonders if the timing were right, would people fear the Ice Queen instead of Satan and revere the Lion instead of Christ. There is little difference in the fantastical elements that lure people in.

The key difference lies in the question of an afterlife. It offers the necrophobes and the downtrodden and destitute a solution. Don't worry that life here is often unbearable for you, when it's all over, you will have everything you've ever longed for. All your problems and hardships will disappear and you will bask in the glory of the lord, whichever one that might be. While it's true that the problems and hardships are certainly over for the dead, the faithful believe that's highly circumstantial. The originators of their faith found a way to dominate them even in death.

...to be continued, when I've decided to ponder this some more.

stabby