At its worst religion is about unicorns, pink elephants, and subjective metaphysical consolation; and at its best religion is about blind trusting faith, love, hope, realizing God's good future, and unprovable yet ultimately important judgments about beliefs and morals. Skepticism on the other hand at its worst is just narrow solipsism, and at its best is the critical and careful search for truth instead of crap. The fusion of the good parts of religion and the good parts skepticism are what I'm interested in.
I am the sort of person who loves the “student approach,” ie the willingness to step back from immediate judgement, do research, argue, ask all the questions that need asking (especially the hard ones), and then, and only then, offer a possible answer. There is much in life and especially in religion to be doubtful about, and I think that faithfulness demands that we ought to be skeptical about such things. The current pervasive anti-intellectualism in many parts of American Christianity is highly disturbing to me.
There is an age old teaching in Christianity that faith "seeks understanding.” “Seeking” to me means that God continues to reveal God’s self to us, and that with the Holy Spirit’s help, we strive to know God more and more. This “seeking” is an ongoing process, and one that demands our highest care, critical analysis, and a healthy amount of skepticism. This care may take long stretches of time and may leave us at times on the edge of uncomfortable uncertainty; but honest uncertainty is, in my opinion, far superior to dishonest, shaky, or conceitful certainty.
In addition to an approach to life, the skeptic's edge is also a common location in my life. As someone for whom faith does not come naturally or easily I often find myself teetering on the edge of dismissive skepticism on one side and faithful trust on the other. This razor edge is an uncomfortable place to live, but I invite you to read on through this blog and discover as I have that even if you walk all the way to the edge of doubt there is nothing inherent, factual, logical, or convincing that will necessarily push you off in either direction— if you want to dive into the abyss you have to jump.
