Monday 23 March 2009

Beyond Fundamentalism

I recognise and acknowledge that fundamentalism takes many forms. I went to a Christian missionary school in Paraguay. It was in many ways a warm cocoon of safety and loving community but some strange beliefs abounded amongst staff and pupils alike. I was told, amongst many other things, that the world was created in 6 literal days around 6000 years ago, that the Bible was inerrant and dictated by God, that rock music was of the devil and that if you didn't pray the sinner's prayer you were destined for eternal conscious torment in the fires of hell! Subsidiary beliefs held by some included the understanding that the Catholic church was in fact the whore of Babylon spoken of in Revelation. This strain of thinking sat uncomfortably with the the fact that a lot of my fellow pupils at school were Paraguayan Roman Catholics paying hefty school fees to learn English and subsidising my free place (Free because my parents were missionaries). So I have a strong radar for Christian fundamentalism in its multi-layered complexity.

In the last two years I have read books by Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett that take aim at fundamentalism in general and faith in particular. I found myself nodding in agreement at many of the critiques they bring up. Something prevents me from joining their ranks however. Something at the deepest level in my pysche longs for their to be something more to this life then the material universe. I can't reconcile the profound longing of the human heart for justice and truth, with the idea that there is no such thing as ultimate truth. However, I seem to share little in common with people who claim they know and have experienced ultimate truth and yet hold beliefs that are demonstrably absurd (Like 6 day creationism). I have only scratched the surface here...I need to head for the depths....

Faith and Meaning

What is it to have faith?

I have often wondered what faith is, and what is it to have faith, to find it, and to lose it. I've certainly spent a long time looking for faith

Over the last year or so I have spent countless hours watching debates between atheists like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett and an assortment of Christian apologists like William Lane Craig and Dinesh De Sousa. When I'm not watching these debates I am drawn like a dog back to its own vomit, to fundamentalist Christians...My technique is as follows. I find a Christian author who I like and find to be very reasonable and sensible, like Philip Yancey for example. Then I type 'Philip Yancey wicked heretic' into Google and see what comes up. This technique works well with a surprisingly wide pool of Christian thinkers. In essence I have found that the more what a particular Christian thinker is saying appeals to me, the more enemies they tend to have...

Come to think of it, I know a man who said a lot of things that really resonate with me. Came from an obscure town called Nazareth I think...he had a few enemies come to think of it...

Before I continue, I should nail my colours firmly to the mast...

I'm a Christian.

Sometimes.

Well, maybe I'm more of an agnostic.

OK, so actually, neither category seems to fit me comfortably. For the sake of clarity I'm going to call myself a tentative Christian with agnostic leanings. I'm hoping that by putting some of my thoughts and questions down on this blog, I am going to enter into a period of new clarity and purpose!

Welcome to the Christian Agnostic...