MADISON — Good […]
Day: August 28, 2014
POLST: A Catholic moral dilemma (part two)
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Author’s note: “God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety. His Kingdom is not an imaginary hereafter, situated in a future that will never arrive; his Kingdom is present wherever he is loved and wherever his love reaches us. His love alone gives us the possibility of soberly persevering day by day, without ceasing to be spurred on by hope, in a world which by its very nature is imperfect” (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Spei Salvi).
The words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI articulate the unique aspect of hope in the Catholic paradigm. In Part II of POLST: A Catholic Moral Dilemma, Dr. Franklin Smith contrasts POLST to the Catholic approach to end-of-life decision-making.
Why I love my invisible friend
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One of the favorite taunts of the New Atheists is that religious people believe in an “invisible friend.”
They are implying, of course, that religion is little more than a pathetic exercise in wishful thinking, a reversion to childish patterns of projection and self-protection. It is well past time, they say, for believers to grow up, leave their cherished fantasies behind, and face the real world.
In offering this characterization, the New Atheists are showing themselves to be disciples of the old atheists such as Feuerbach, Marx, Comte, and Freud, all of whom made more or less similar observations.
I’m writing here to let atheists know that I think they’re right, at least about God being an invisible friend. Where they’re wrong is in supposing that surrendering to this unseen reality is de-humanizing or infantilizing.