Weak-Minded: Like Copernicus

I heard about an assertion made recently that faith was for weak-minded people. That's a sincerely-held belief in some American subcultures. It's not just religious people who are weak-minded. Anybody who doesn't support the crisis du jure is supposed to be stupid, too.

"Everybody knows that."

It's a pretty good way of enforcing conformity in a group. Few people want to be called 'unintelligent.'

I remember when it was 'mature.' Folks who didn't agree with a Freudian psychologist, or other expert, were told their failure to conform was due to their not being 'mature.'

Like I said: It's a pretty good way to make people toe the line.

I'd like to be considered 'intelligent' and 'mature' - but I prefer to be right.

Besides, being out of step with the latest intellectual fads in America puts me in some interesting company:

• The Venerable Bede
• St. Albertus Magnus
• St. Gertrude the Great
• St. Catherine of Siena
• Nicolaus Copernicus
• Mother Teresa of Calcutta

'Weak-minded' folks, every one. You can tell, because they're religious. You know: one of those people who have faith. 'Everybody' knows how unintelligent that is.

Weak-minded like Albertus Magnus? Unintelligent like Catherine of Siena and Nicolaus Copernicus? That, I can handle.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta? She's supposed to be a hypocrite. I've written about that before. (May 8, 2009)

I can see how that misapprehension could happen. When Mother Teresa's letters were published, it came out that she'd had an unusually long dark night of the soul. (August 31, 2007, in Apathetic Lemming of the North)

Experiencing a long 'dry' period, with none of the emotional perks that can come with 'being religious' isn't consistent with a common American assumption about religion and religious faith.

Americans, in my experience, are inclined to equate 'having faith' and 'being religious' with experiencing an emotional 'high.' Nothing wrong with emotions: but that's not what being a Catholic is about. I've discussed that before, too. (April 22, 2010) A fair number of high-profile American religious leaders help to perpetuate the idea that being religious has a deleterious effect on the intellect. And I've written about that, too. (January 16, 2010)

Finally, about the name of another blog of mine, "Apathetic Lemming of the North" - but that's a topic for another post.

More-or-less-related posts:

• "Physics and God, Hammers and Architects"
  (September 7, 2010)
• "Science, Faith, and Auto Mechanics"
  (August 19, 2010)
• "Really 'Spiritual' Experiences: Those are Okay"
  (April 22, 2010)
• "Mother Teresa of Calcutta: She's No Princess Di"
  (May 8, 2009)
• "Dying to Ourselves, Dying to Self: Not Exactly a Feel-Good Religion?"
  (March 3, 2009)