Maybe you don't consider getting acquainted with the dirt around you brave, but I would say that just being there required courage. I don't believe too many journalists go to the front lines any more.
I read through your exchange with Neocon, and it seems to me that you conclude that anybody who believes in a deity is either simple or weak. You say they have given up thinking. There are some people who carefully consider the evidence, sometimes over years, then make their decision. That is how I came to my conclusion, and I'm acquainted with a few people with a similar story.
I told you before that I spent two years in Catholic elementary school, but that was it. My folks embraced the modernist changes that came with Vatican II, and we quickly became an atheistic household. I was never on a "search" for a church to land myself in, but after several years of varied reading, I came to the conclusion, quite serendipitously, that I should return to the Church. I felt like a convert because I hadn't been there since I was about 13-14 years old. I was quite happy being agnostic. Embracing the Faith was not something I needed to do, but if I had not done so, I would not have been living true to myself. Believe me, I approached it with some trepidation. After years of atheism/agnosticism it was quite a shift in thinking.
FWIW, Charles |
