Faith Is Who We Are
by David Bartlett
A few weeks ago I spent a few minutes reading yet another review of the recent works of the evangelical atheists—Harris, Dawkins and Hitchens. Now I have not read any of the books being reviewed, though I’ve read essays by each of those authors.
My general sense was that their image of the way in which people decide for or against religious faith is this: the seeker sits in a den or study with paper and pad. In the left hand column he or she totes up the reasons for religious belief (a short list indeed); in the right hand column he or she jots down the reasons against it (along and impressive list). Being totally dispassionate and rational, the seeker becomes a non-believer and lives happily, or at least rationally, ever after.
That afternoon I went to a women’s prison in our town to teach a Bible study. We were talking about the raising of Lazarus (talk about irrational), and when the women talked they did not talk about evidence or rational decision making.
They talked about how faith made it possible to get through incredibly difficult lives.
They talked about the social structure that the prison’s chapel services and Bible study provided. They talked about how they counted on church to provide the context that would help them make it when they returned to the larger world. They talked about forgiveness. How they knew it. How they shared it.
There are interesting intellectual arguments to be made for or against any particular set of religious beliefs. (Arguments against religion in general are usually just bizarre.) But what the gang of three seems to miss is the sheer social thickness of the faithful life. Faith is who people are, not just what people believe.
To miss that is pretty much to miss the point.