Embracing Doubt
I have long contended that Atheists are intellectually lazy when it comes to their Atheism. It is because of this sloth that they are typified by poor arguments, name calling, and straw-man tactics. (For an example of this, read the exchange I had with an Atheist from Las Vegas at the The Lazy Atheist – Part One post.)
Case in point is Andrew Sullivan’s recent article in Time magazine, When Not Seeing Is Believing. In it he wants us “fundamentalist” Christians to abandon our dogmas and adopt some sort of Christian Agnosticism. He also wants us to abandon the concept of truth with a big “T” (correspondence) with truth with a little “t” (opinion, thinly veiled). As usual, no arguments are given. He simply spends five-pages-worth of our time telling us his wishes. (Ah, if only wishes were horses . . .)
Clear Christian Thinking
I commend to you a post by Melinda over at the Stand to Reason blog titled, Embracing Doubt. She does a great job of clearing away the fog of Mr. Sullivan’s vacuous thinking. Here’s an excerpt:
Sullivan uses the now familiar distinction of claiming to know lower "t" truth and capital "T" truth. The former kind of knowledge is supposedly more modest and less offensive, while the former is arrogant and absolute leading to all kinds of problems in the world. Not surprisingly, Sullivan goes on several paragraphs later in the article to tell us what the truth of things are and what "true faith" is. He sure talks like he's telling us about the way things really are, not just his perspective, because he's appealing to others to abandon their arrogance and embrace the doubt that will end all our conflict. Sullivan sounds pretty sure of his view when I read his article, but you see, that's okay with me. I'm interested in hearing his ideas and having a lively disagreement with the goal of persuading each other when we disagree. He sounds just as sure as the Christians he's critiquing, but that's juts fine. We can hardly escape the conviction that our own beliefs are correct. There is no such thing as the false distinction between "t" and "T" truth. That claims purports to be the way things are - "T" truth. We're all in that same boat, it's just that some of the passengers want to take pot shots at the others, which is really how I perceive Sullivan's criticisms.
You can read the rest of the post here.
Labels: Apologetics
posted by The Catechizer and The Deacon | 12:24 PM
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