Have you lost faith?

I read Digg a lot, and for a community with a large percentage of atheists and agnostics, there are a surprising number of popular submissions about religion. Many of the articles concerning religion are fairly negative, and you can really feel the hostility towards religion when you read the comments. I actually plan on writing a response to this animosity towards faith on Digg, but that’s not for today.

The article I found today is very relevant to the blog here. It’s called ”Religion beat became a test of faith”
The author is a writer for the LA Times and the article describes his faith journey.

I recommend reading it, but here is a short synopsis- the author describes a sincere acceptance of Christ in his late 20’s and then outlines the tests his faith endured as the religion beat writer for the Times. His jobs exposes him to the darkest sides of Christianity, he starts to realize he cannot reconcile his questions about faith, and he eventually comes to realize that he can no longer believe in God. It is a heartfelt article, more of a memoir than anything else. As a Christian it is difficult to read, especially as the author describes the extreme hypocrisy within the church.

He reported much about the Catholic church sex scandal, and that seemed to affect him deeply. He also wrote about the TV network TBN, and how it’s leaders and pastors lived in appalling luxury, taking money from people with the promise that God will bless them for their generosity.
He concludes with this,

“My soul, for lack of a better term, had lost faith long ago — probably around the time I stopped going to church. My brain, which had been in denial, had finally caught up.

Clearly, I saw now that belief in God, no matter how grounded, requires at some point a leap of faith. Either you have the gift of faith or you don’t. It’s not a choice. It can’t be willed into existence. And there’s no faking it if you’re honest about the state of your soul.”

In a sense I agree with him, belief does require a leap of faith. Faith is pretty much defined that way. But I struggle with his statement that “you either have the gift of faith or you don’t.” I cannot believe that to be true. I think everyone has the capacity for faith. Why do some believe and some not? I have ideas, but really I don’t know at all.

My own fear

The article struck me most of all because I could relate to the author. I have some of the same questions about faith, and one of my greatest fears is that my faith will fade. However, while I can see and lament the problems within the church, I also can see a lot of Christians doing things right. At school, I know many amazing people that are yearning to serve God the best way possible. We should never ignore our hypocrisy, but we should also shouldn’t forget when we do things right.

Popularity: 21% [?]