The Informationist

God—America—Faith

I was supposed to write about technology today. For some reason, though, I really don’t feel like writing about technology. I feel a strange need to write about faith. I’m not sure why. Faith has been my bete-noire for a long time now. In fact, for as long as I can remember. I’m afraid of faith because I have observed its power and I don’t understand it at all.

For a long time, I felt great anger at the concept of faith. Sure, I knew people who’d been helped by it. But I could also look around and see the pain and suffering that it caused, the crimes and unspeakable atrocities committed in its name. I have always considered myself fortunate to live in a country without an official religion, without an imposition of faith. And I have long been suspicious of those who attempted to interject faith into the American forum. Couldn’t they see what a wonderful thing we had developed here? Couldn’t they appreciate the brilliance of the Constitutional formulation? Free Exercise and No Establishment. The First Amendment sets out two rules for religion: every individual is free to exercise whatever faith—or lack thereof—they may possess, but the government may not favor any particular faith—or even a combination of faiths. Those two rules allowed us to develop into the most pluralistic, tolerant society in recorded history.

When the (second) Bush administration came to power, it arrived armed with the notion that faith should be promoted—its “faith based initiative.” This initiative arrived at a bout the same time as I reached an important personal juncture—I was able to let go of some of the anger of my childhood. I was raised as an Orthodox Jew, in an Orthodox Jewish community. While it is impossible to capture any religion in a few simple words, it is generally possible to make a start. Orthodox Judaism believes that the Torah represents God’s revealed truth. The Torah teaches a fairly simple moral code for all people—stressing concepts like monotheism, marital fidelity, kindness to animals, and a respect for others’ lives and property. In addition, it prescribes a much more detailed set of requirements for Jews. While most Jews are born Jewish, conversion is open to anyone who truly accepts these added restrictions and requirements.

Something about that never sat well with me. Mostly, I think, it had to do with the notion of revealed Truth. It all struck me as entirely implausible. In order to buy the argument, you had to follow a series of implausible events. First, there had to be an original creative force. Okay, I’ve always been prepared to buy that one. God, Big Bang, whatever you want to call it, I have no problems with the idea that something got things going. But then it got tough. That force had to be sentient. It had to care about the earth. It had to care about individual actions on this planet. It had to have revealed itself in the way described to the people described. And the revealed Truth had to have been interpreted in reasonable ways since the original revelation. All of those struck me as implausible; and when you multiply the probabilities together, well, the likelihood that you were left with Truth was infinitesimal.

Of course, there was nothing wrong with the Torah Truth that didn’t apply with equal ease to the Truths preached by any other faith. They were all equally implausible. And it struck me that it was that utter implausibility that led adherents to the ultimate insecurity that caused them to denigrate and devastate adherents of the other Truths.

But when I started paying attention, I noticed that things played themselves out a bit differently here in America. I noticed a huge number of folks who seemed to describe themselves as “spiritual, but not religious,” or as “religious, but not traditional.” And that’s when it dawned on me. We’ve been drawing the lines in the wrong ways. Not just me, but large parts of the spectrum of political pundits and commentators. The lines do not belong between the different faiths, or even between the people of faith and the “faithless.” The proper lines belong between those who believe in a single Truth and those who do not.

The membership of virtually every religious organization contains a spectrum of thinkers. Some believe that the teaching of their faith represent the entire Truth, and that those who reject that Truth have lost their way—and must be converted, shunned, or worse. Others, however, seem to believe that they have found peace, solace, or fulfillment in the teachings of their faith—and that others should seek similar good feelings wherever they may find it. These are the folks who believe that somewhere, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, and others are all sitting around annoyed, saying: “Look, all we ever said was that the world would be a better place if people got along with each other.” For these folks, the idea of importance is that every individual find an ethical center and a moral compass. The source of that center is secondary.

But then, what of those without faith? What of those who believe in none of the traditions? Well, they break down the same way. Many agnostics—and even atheists—believe in a humanistic philosophy. They gain their moral center simply by recognizing that some things are right and others wrong, and that the world will be a better place if we all try to do right. Those who do not are more than simply faithless; they are nihilistic.

And therein lies the peace that I have attempted to make with faith. I have a moral center and a compass. I’m not sure where it comes from, and I’m not sure if it’s important that I do. What I do know, though, is that I am fine with people of faith—as long as they do not feel that they have a monopoly on Truth and they recognize that all paths to self-improvement and world-improvement are equally valid.

As I look around the world, I wonder where these people are. We seem to have them in abundance in the U.S., but they are dangerously missing elsewhere. And so the religious carnage continues. And so, I say, God Bless America. Or to be more neutral, May the Force be with Us.

Posted by Bruce Abramson from on 04/20 at 11:01 AM in Religion, Faith, God, Mystery, and the Unexplainable