I know little about the character of the Church around the globe since my entire Christian journey, such as it is, has
taken place in Canada and the United States. Even here I am unable, or at least
unwilling, to make sweeping generalizations about the nature of North American
Christianity. It would be easy, for example, to characterize fundamentalism in
America as being anti-rational, but such a view fails to grasp the fullness of
the situation. Our so-called Fundamentalist Christians don’t hate reason; they
simply fail to see that their religious faith is accountable to it. Belief is
regarded as essentially personal and entirely a matter of the will. Philosophy,
largely pragmatic and analytical, is seen by some as a useful discipline in
seeking clarity regarding social, ethical concerns. However, there is in most
minds a wall of separation between one’s personal
faith and the world of things which can be studied objectively. Science and
philosophy are understood as belonging in the latter category. The disconnect
remains. People who harvest fuel from dinosaur bones for a living go to church
where they believe the earth is just 10,000 years old, and they’re fine with
that, just as they’re fine with proclaiming Jesus is Lord while advocating
social Darwinism.
That some people bristle at the prospect of being bridled by
sweet reason is of course nothing new. We can find anti-philosophical
tendencies in most faith-traditions. What I find more distressing is the
prospect of a philosophical religion which does not love wisdom. This travesty
happens when religion seeks to use philosophy, treating it as a tool, not a
guide. We want answers, and philosophy is useful insofar as it provides them. Religious
types armed with a philosophy of answers are mostly concerned with the moral
realm where they seek to help society by crafting stupid, destructive new laws.
And although they might find philosophy useful in this endeavor they don’t much
care for philosophers; they ask too many questions. Philosophers love wisdom
and follow wherever she leads. That’s dangerous.
For me the relation of faith and reason amounts to answering
a simple question: when do I decide not to follow the truth? Do I forsake the
truth when it becomes unpleasant or inconvenient? Do I tell wisdom to take a
hike when it costs too much? We are in Lent and so it seems like the right time
to recall that Pontius Pilate faced a similar question, and his answer was to
condemn the only perfectly innocent man he’d ever met.
