| I wanted to say a few words to mark the occasion of the opening of this thread. There are legitimate criticisms of Fundamentalism, but no more so than of atheism, I think. Why is it so terrible, given liberty of belief, for someone to think that the universe has a purpose and place for mankind, that God actually has an ongoing concern with His creation, that He is more like a Father than anything else known to us, and that He chose to share in our travail in order to bring us nearer to Himself. Whether the literal inerrancy of the Bible is credible is a real question, as are some beliefs underwritten by that position. But how can it be per se a bad thing to think that life has meaning, that man is made in God's image, and that God is prone to raise up the lowly to greatness, as He took the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, or made a king of David the Shepherd, or made Peter and Andrew fishers of men? What greater affirmation of human dignity than the idea that the Christ is "very God and very Man"? We non- Evangelical Republicans are constantly taunted with our association with the Religious Right, and it is said to be our curse and eventual downfall. I say that the Evangelicals are a strength to our Party, and to the nation. Our cultural moment in not one of too much belief, but too little. I would sooner put my trust in someone who thought that He pleased God by His honesty and fair dealing, than in someone who merely pleased himself, as a matter of taste. When there are truly conflicting impulses, one will generally choose gratification over nobler ends. Wanting to please God, one will have to consider justice, and fittingness, and mercy, and strive not to shirk... |
