...truth is not a set of answers that you begin with and then retroactively fit the questions to. It's something that requires rigor and modesty and a lot of work... a lot of things that we would like to put in boxes labeled true and false defy our ability to do that. I think fundamentalism is this desire to put answers out of reach of questioning... I've come to believe that journalism saved me from fundamentalism... t's taught me that truth is not a set of answers that you begin with and then retroactively fit the questions to. It's something that requires rigor and modesty and a lot of work. And also our recognition that a lot of things that we would like to put in boxes labeled true and false defy our ability to do that.
Jon Ward, in a interview with NPR, about walking away from evangelical, fundamentalist Christianity.
Mr. Ward is still a Christian. He still defines himself as a man of faith. But he also believes in questioning and learning and growing and exploring and CHANGING HIS MIND. Questioning and pondering were things that many an exasperated Sunday School teacher, preacher and friend that is a believer most certainly did NOT want me to keep doing as I grew up, and said so when they were tired of me asking questions and making observations. And I didn't even go to fundamentalist churches!
Do read that NPR article. The part about being expected to faint and gyrate per "receiving" the Holy Spirit is something I could definitely identify with.
I'm not sure if I had been handled differently by all those people I asked questions of that I would not have turned out to be an atheist. As I've said many times, I just never felt anything in any church or religious service or during prayer that every one said I would, or was supposed to, or whatever. And I WANTED to believe - I was entirely onboard as a little girl and couldn't wait to finally feel that closeness with and comfort from God everyone said I would if I just kept praying, just kept keeping my heart open, and blah blah blah.
I am open to finding out something I wanted to be true isn't. That someone I believed in isn't who I thought they were. That how I feel about something now may not be how I feel about it in a few years. That I might be wrong. I feel sorry for people who are incapable of changing their mind as facts emerged - and I feel scared of them when they are in positions of power.
Scientific understanding changes from time to time, and that doesn't bother me at all - that's what happens as more facts become available. Why would I fear that? The facts don't change but our understanding of such does. I love that it leads to MORE questions - so exciting! Endless discovery! Wahoo!
Also see:
