The Fragility of Faith

When Christianity is more intellectually honest it deals in terms of the human dilemma and not tribalism or culture. I think tribal cultural Christianity is not to be taken seriously and it discredits itself so often that it is wasteful to even try to engage it. Cultural tribal Christianity answers deep and interesting questions with shallow and petty provincial answers.

So as far as serious Christianity I think of Ernest Becker and Kierkegaard and I have great sympathy for people of faith in that context. Human awareness combined with bodily mortal decay is a hell of a mix. The burden of human consciousness and human fragility is a potent combination that feeds human art, culture and religion. Another words religion seems absolutely a natural phenomenon for our human position. In that it is subjective truth but whether it is objective truth I am quite skeptical of that claim. To be objective it must rise above provincial, cultural, historical, and political influences. Instead a rather quick glance into earth history & human history and you see that many variables play an important part and a specific religion is subject to these forces making it fragile to fate and circumstance. Our human beliefs are determined by forces outside our control and yes choice comes in-in a minor way- like an animal in a cage has a choice to walk to one side or the other. The cage is determined. Where, when and how you are born determine so many things. And then who you meet along the way as well. Something this fragile to fate and circumstance seems rather subjective in nature not objective. If a certain faith is credible it should be above time and culture not dependent on it.

So I take an agnostic stance that it is highly improbable that a creature so determined by chance and circumstance is able to be the carrier of objective reality and so humans reach for subjective truth. Whatever works for them to get them through or to benefit them in some way. What sustains a person is what a person will support whether it is based on truth or not. Since I am agnostic I think in a utilitarian way to say that if faith helps you and does not hurt you than so be it. But if faith makes you prey to others who manipulate or abuse than it is better to discard it and put down the shield of faith and pick up the shield of skepticism. It depends on the circumstances like so many human choices. For me I think the world is filled with deceivers, charlatans, and authoritarians of all types that it is good to be skeptical and have a critical mind.

Carl Sagan said,

"A problem with much of western Theology is that the god portrayed is too small. It is a god of a tiny world."

For me:
The created gods of the human mind are too small and petty for the grandeur of the stars and universe. Human gods do not even cover the scale of human history and earth history much less the scale of the universe.
When it comes to human history, the natural history, and the depth of the cosmos- the sheer weight of all of it does not point me to a certain specific faith. I do concede the origin of the Universe, life, and human awareness are important serious variables but the conclusion does not necessarily lead to a specific dogma. The best it can do is lead to a deist type god but that is the best my intellect can grasp reasonably. Only faith can carry you to specifics. A faith so fragile on fate.