Belief and Skepticism

Belief and Skepticism

My contribution to Holy Week here at the Hall is a link to a couple of related posts at Brandywine Books, one from "Phil" and the other from Hall regular Lars Walker. Phil links to a Wall Street Journal article by a former atheist who found that his skepticism wouldn't hold up to a dispassionate review of the evidence for the Resurrection, prompted by his wife's sudden conversion and his own responding discomfort. Commenters were pretty unhappy about it.

Lars links to an article by Peter Wood in the Chronicles of Higher Education, pointing out how differently academia views suspension of disbelief in spiritual matters, depending on whether the spirituality in question is that scary, unfashionable Christianity stuff, or the virtuous belief in a "great prehistoric cult of the Goddess in Europe connected to matriarchal rule":

The possibility that a candidate for a position in biology, anthropology, or, say, English literature might secretly harbor the idea that God created the universe or that the Bible is true, is a danger not to be brooked. But apparently, the possibility that a candidate believes that human society was “matriarchal” until about 5,000 years ago is perfectly within the range of respectable opinion appropriate for campus life.

Finally, what Holy Week blogpost would be complete without a nod to the recent story of a 16-year-old who told her Seattle radio station that she was forbidden to bring easter eggs to school for her community service project unless she agreed to call them "spring spheres." This story may turn out to be as mythical as the Sphere Bunny; either that, or it's so embarrassing that a Seattle school board spokesperson claims the district's efforts to look into the incident have failed to turn up anyone willing to admit they said any such thing. That's actually encouraging, in a twisted way. But I have to admit that the 16-year-old's circumstantial and detailed account, as reported by the radio station, has more of the ring of truth to it than the school's bland denials.