Trapped Between Two Poles

The main reason for this blog is to attempt to promote what I think is the healthful middle ground between two dangerous religious poles that exist. On the one hand, there are those who openly, inwardly, or both, mock or simply dismiss the very ideas of God, religion, and man's need and yearning for the two. The radical atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens readily come to mind, though it is not just the radical atheists who mock and deride God and religion. On the other hand, there are those devotees of religion who are, and this will come across as condescending and arrogant, but so be it, overly and non-critically accepting of religious dogma, while at the same time seemingly ignorant of the inherent fallibility of all humans.

There are, of course, exceptions; not everyone fits neatly in either pole or between. But I do believe that the majority of people discussing religion in the public sphere, e.g., radio, TV, newspapers and magazines (those sources with the widest audience), tend to fall into one of these two groups.

Again, my concern is to promote the middle ground between these two poles. I take that middle ground to consist not necessarily of belief in God (though it by no means excludes it) but in taking religion and man's religious yearnings seriously, while at the same time seeking to approach the issues as rationally and charitably as possible.

And with those who might claim that religion and belief in God do not fall under the purview of rationality, I would disagree for two reasons. First, insofar as there may be respects in which God and religion concern things beyond human understanding or things that are ineffable, that does not mean that reason is excluded, since we should use reason to help figure out what exactly is beyond our understanding or ineffable. Second, while there may well be limits to our understanding and to our ability to conceptualize God, that does not imply that religion and spirituality are exempt from rational and critical analysis. Again, as far as possible, reason should be used to help distinguish nonsense from things beyond our understanding.

I'll address in the next post why I think the lack of such a middle ground in public discussions of God and religion is dangerous.