Saturday, June 19, 2010

It's Faith and Reason

I have The Quotations Page "Quotes of the Day" gadget on my Google Homepage. As a rule, it's fun to see what shows up. There's even the occasional witticism from G. K. Chesterton.

And, there's the predictable stuff from current serious thinkers. Like today's quote:
"Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise, there wouldn't be religious people."
- Doris Egan
The Wikipedia article on Doris Egan starts: "Doris Egan (1955-) is an American screenwriter, producer, and writer...." She's a few years younger than I am, but we're nearly contemporaries.

Which is why I think I may know what she means.

Faith, Reason, and Cherished American Assumptions

Over the decades, I've encountered a fair number of very 'religious' folks who reinforce the notion that reasonable people can't be religious: and vice versa. Some of them even believe it, themselves.

Then there are the well-read 'Bible Christians' who come up with such phrases as "a good Christian: like David." The David, king of Israel, had run-ins with King Saul, killed Goliath: that David. The one who lived and died centuries before Jesus of Nazareth was born.

I'm not making up that assertion that 'King David was a Christian,' by the way. I rather wish I was. It was on a pre-recorded radio program: so I'm pretty sure it wasn't a slip of the tongue.

More important than the occasional chronologically-challenged preacher, I think, is the deep-rooted cultural assumption, so dear to so many Americans, that faith and reason, religion and science are not only polar opposites: but are in conflict.

I'm pretty sure that the 'faith vs. reason' notion is endemic to most if not all Western cultures, too.

Faith, Reason, and Expectations

I don't expect to change that sort of belief - any more than I'd expect to alter the assumptions of that 'David was a Christian' fellow.

I'll just say that I converted to Catholicism in part because anything I believe has to make sense. I've written about this before.

Related posts:

2 comments:

Brigid said...

Typo alert! "There's event the occasional witticism"

The Friendly Neighborhood Proofreader

Brian H. Gill said...

Brigid,

'But the spellchecker says it's okay!' ;)

Thanks!

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From time to time, a service that I use will display links to - odd - services and retailers.

I block a few of the more obvious dubious advertisers.

For example: psychic anything, numerology, mediums, and related practices are on the no-no list for Catholics. It has to do with the Church's stand on divination. I try to block those ads.

Sometime regrettable advertisements get through, anyway.

Bottom line? What that service displays reflects the local culture's norms, - not Catholic teaching.