And if God is beyond our categories, then God cannot be captured for certain. We cannot know with the kind of surety that allows us to proclaim truth with a capital T.--Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Sullivan has an essay in the 9 October issue of Time, titled "When Not Seeing Is Believing." His thesis: "Fundamentalism is not the only valid form of faith, and to say it is, is the great lie of our time."
To be sure, I never agree with everything Sullivan says, here or elsewhere. In this essay, for example, I take particular exception to my beliefs being characterized as one half of a "secular-fundamentalist death spiral." Being completely opposed to the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, George W. Bush, and Pope Benedict XVI is -- quite literally -- the only rational response. Also, when Sullivan asks me for tolerance of religious beliefs, I'd ask him to recognize that my non-beliefs merit the same respect. Even non-fundamentalist types like Sullivan get mighty tiresome with their frequent implications that agnosticism and morality, or athesism and a sense of awe, are mutually exclusive.
Nonetheless, the essay overall is a pretty good read. Of course, as with most arguments of this type, those who will read it already agree with the core principles. Those who should think about it most deeply, on the other hand, will likely not read it at all. And even if some do, it's hard to imagine ever swaying a zealot.
Pardon me. I guess I just put the "I" in "spiral."
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