Candace

Talmadge

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December 24, 2007

True Belief: A Boon and a Bane

Being a person of no religious belief can be especially tough this time of the year. The sights and sounds of Christmas and other religious holidays are inescapable. Some find this extremely irritating. Others use it as a handy excuse to gather with loved ones and celebrate for non-religious reasons.

Religious belief and its role in government, however, are once more at the forefront of the political debate due to the polling surge of Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. The rising tide of support among the GOP ranks for the former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister surprises only Republican Beltway insiders, who for decades have given lip service to certain religious beliefs and now face the disconcerting prospect of a genuine religious believer winning their party’s top spot.

Yet on this Christmas Eve, we are all believers, in one form or another. The atheist believes in the scientific method. The skeptic believes in logic/reason. The humanist believes in the power of the mind. The engineer believes in technology. The romantic believes in true love. The cynic believes in manipulation. The patriot believes in country.

The point is that we all believe in something, even if we do not express our varying beliefs in religious terms. We cannot, in fact, escape the hold that belief in one form or another has over us. As human beings we want and need to believe to survive spiritually and emotionally just as we need air and water to survive physically.

The power of belief is so strong within us that we do not often ask ourselves what exactly it is that we believe in, or even more importantly, why we believe. We tend to assume the beliefs we learned as children or, after we grow up, shed those beliefs and take on others that are more to our liking as adults.

While belief can unite and fortify us as a nation, it can also divide and weaken us. Belief is a boon and a bane. It all depends on how we treat beliefs that we do not share and those who believe differently than we do.

Do we respect beliefs to which we do not subscribe, or do we belittle them and call them and their adherents crazy or misguided or even worse?

The real problem with religious belief or any other form of belief in the public square has never been the actual belief itself. The danger has always been the lack of respect that some believers have displayed toward those who do not share their beliefs.

Despite any claims to the contrary, none of us can be absolutely certain that her or his beliefs are the best or the truest. Belief by its very nature cannot be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt. Yet so many of us insist on asserting the supreme validity of our beliefs and the lack of the same in others. In so doing, such people reveal not their faith but its glaring absence.

Elevating one belief to the detriment of all others will be the death of this nation. This republic cannot survive if only one belief – religious or otherwise – prevails. The founders did their best to avoid just this situation with the First Amendment’s ban on government-supported religious beliefs. They wisely bet on diversity in the marketplace of beliefs to keep this country free and intact. Can we do anything less?

© 2007 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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