A SAINT FOR DOUBTING
SOULS
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Summer writing time was neglected,
I’m afraid. You can’t imagine how many ideas came to me while sailing. I
promised to write them down right away. Before I got to shore the ideas had
blown off with the wind.
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My September 24 e-mail blue sheet has
a brief comment that should inspire some further thinking. I said:
MotherTeresa came out of the
closet with respect to her faith in God. I hope to write more on this later,
although plenty of comments have already been made. She’s still on the list
for sainthood as far as I am concerned. Why not a saint
for doubters, skeptics, agnostics and atheists? She showed that one can be
holy and do good works while disconnected from the certainties
of faith. (ACM 9/24/07)
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My mailing list includes “doubters,
skeptics, agnostics and atheists,” most likely saying they are not in need
of a saint. OK, if she’s not your saint, could you accept her as a model
of how to live without outside certainty about faith?
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In my preaching years in the church
I came to know honest souls willing to talk about their questions, doubts
and absence of faith. In my writing years I have heard from many more, including
clergy, who openly speak of their agnosticism and even atheism. I used to
pass out a book that became so worn and beaten that I had to replace it with
another. It was called “The Christian Agnostic,” by Leslie Weatherhead. There
are other books on Christian atheism. A famed theologian, Bonhoeffer
(executed near the end of WWII for his attempt to assassinate Hitler) wrote
in “Letters from Prison,” about Christians needing to learn “to do without
God.” Mother Teresa didn’t want to do without God, but she had to do without
any assurance that her faith in God or Jesus had substance.
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In other words there lots of people
who act like Christians without believing like Christians.
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We used to argue about which of two
scriptural views is correct; that salvation comes by faith alone, or whether
faith without works is dead. Apparently the argument is whether a Christian
life can be lived in the world without faith. And Mother Teresa is one example
of many that the answer is yes.
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I remember one young man in one of
my churches who let me know early on that he considered himself an atheist.
He also let me know that he expected the church to do the believing for him.
He would hear the scriptures and sing the hymns that he couldn’t believe.
He wanted them for his family. He wanted his children dedicated in a religious
ceremony. He wanted to live a Christian life. But he couldn’t believe.
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That was fine with me but wouldn’t
work in many churches. The creed of whatever variety must be said and belief
affirmed for membership or “full fellowship.” “Do you believe…?” we asked.
I wonder how many said “yes” with fingers crossed or with reservations.
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A guru, colleague and friend used to
say “Belief is highly over-rated.” In my mind he was a Christian mystic who
would never agree to anyone’s idea of belief or faith. He was a caring, loving,
useful individual.
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I suspect many Christians would cross
Mother Teresa off the list of Christians bound for paradise or wherever they
think true believers go. More would cross her off the list of candidates
for sainthood. While I think the whole business of creating saints is pretty
much of a crock, I would think such honesty should put her to the front of
the line. She got the Christian idea right. It’s not about believing in Christ,
it’s about being like Christ. It’s not about faith. It’s about compassion.
It’s not about eternal reward. It’s about being present where need appears
here and now.
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Authors like Richard Dawkins (“The
God Delusion,”) and Sam Harris (”The End of Faith”) and Mother Teresa are
in pretty much the same boat. The difference is that Mother Teresa lived
out her darkness and doubt within a context that assumed faith. Was that
dishonest? However, it did not prevent her from admirable living.
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I would like to see the whole discussion
moved beyond a myopic view of the world and universe. The question that expands
my wonder more is how we can talk about “God” in conjunction with books like
“View From the Center of the Universe – Discovering our Extraordinary Place
in the Cosmos.” Let’s begin there instead of within traditional religious
doctrine and dogma. Then let’s treat one another in extraordinary ways, in
the manner of Mother Teresa. If we wait for faith it will be too late.
─ Art Morgan, October 2007
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