2008 Woodie Awards
Faith: a battle between God, self
View from the UK
Simon Russell/columnist
Issue date: 3/29/07 Section: Opinions
Faith. An elusive commodity. For millennia, Theologians have mused its qualities: if we find Faith, how much is enough? When we find it, how should it be displayed - should we "show a little," or should we simply "have" Faith?
Is a Faith based in doubt truer, more appealing - more honest even - than a Faith that shouts its firmly-resolute convictions from the mountain-tops? Is doubt not the very essence of Faith, rather than its opposite (can one ever be certain of doubt)?
It's enough to make your head spin; this proliferation of paradox, this diluvium of discombobulation.
For some, Easter is a period of mystery and doubt. The birth of Christ is accepted as historical fact (even though the exact date chosen for celebration is somewhat spurious): Christian beliefs were founded upon His Life and Teachings.
But Easter - the Resurrection - is less concrete, more esoteric, more abstruse. That Christ rose from the dead - this assertion compels an appraisal of our Faith.
For some it is the very essence of Faith: given America's fervent religious backdrop, to choose not to confer Good Friday and Easter Monday with public holiday status (as we in the UK do) seems somehow anomalous. Is your Faith so strong it needs no annual reinforcement? Is your doubt so great as to be unexpungeable? Or is it simply that honest religion rightly exists alongside an honest day's toil?
Your First Amendment prohibits restriction to religious freedom; it also requires the separation of Church and State.
From afar, however, these entities still appear conjoined: a President who announces "God Bless America" after each address (surely God wants to bless each and every country, including those troubled or failing countries. Especially troubled or failing countries?); a motto that once proclaimed E Pluribus Unum but now declares, "In God We Trust" - these hardly shout "secular society" to the rest of the world.
Have the Church and State truly separated, or are they in fact cohabiting with scabrous intent? We really should be told.
Is a Faith based in doubt truer, more appealing - more honest even - than a Faith that shouts its firmly-resolute convictions from the mountain-tops? Is doubt not the very essence of Faith, rather than its opposite (can one ever be certain of doubt)?
It's enough to make your head spin; this proliferation of paradox, this diluvium of discombobulation.
For some, Easter is a period of mystery and doubt. The birth of Christ is accepted as historical fact (even though the exact date chosen for celebration is somewhat spurious): Christian beliefs were founded upon His Life and Teachings.
But Easter - the Resurrection - is less concrete, more esoteric, more abstruse. That Christ rose from the dead - this assertion compels an appraisal of our Faith.
For some it is the very essence of Faith: given America's fervent religious backdrop, to choose not to confer Good Friday and Easter Monday with public holiday status (as we in the UK do) seems somehow anomalous. Is your Faith so strong it needs no annual reinforcement? Is your doubt so great as to be unexpungeable? Or is it simply that honest religion rightly exists alongside an honest day's toil?
Your First Amendment prohibits restriction to religious freedom; it also requires the separation of Church and State.
From afar, however, these entities still appear conjoined: a President who announces "God Bless America" after each address (surely God wants to bless each and every country, including those troubled or failing countries. Especially troubled or failing countries?); a motto that once proclaimed E Pluribus Unum but now declares, "In God We Trust" - these hardly shout "secular society" to the rest of the world.
Have the Church and State truly separated, or are they in fact cohabiting with scabrous intent? We really should be told.
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