The Crucible of Doubt

“We all inhabit geographical, linguistic, and social worlds that shape our vision and our impressions of what is normal, what is real. Our worldview is a collective set of assumptions we carry with us that condition every questions we ask. These “paradigms” make it possible to guide inquire, and they can also limit and impede our inquiry. . . . Erroneous assumptions do not just forestall truth and progress, they point us in the wrong direction, limit our understanding, and even warp the questions we ask. Only when we have left a misguided assumption behind are we able to see it clearly.”

“It has been said that Jesus invented true religion, and man invented churches. That’s not exactly right, but it does reflect a crucial principle: true religion is a way of life; a church is an institution designed to strengthen people in the exercise of that life. But the thing a man does practically believe concerning his vital relations to this mysterious Universe, and his duty and destiny there, that is in all cases the primary thing for him, and creatively determines all the rest. That is his religion. James defined religion more economically: ‘Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. Regardless of what we believe: that our hearts are attuned to others, that we feel the pain of the vulnerable and seek to relieve it, that we aspire to emulate Christ and His life of selfless service. If that kind of compassion is the lodestar of our life, then that is true religion.”