Honest Doubt Part 20 - Tears in the Rain

This final episode didn't seem to have too much doubt in it - there was a lot about the certainty of the values of love and kindness, of finding joy in affliction and forgiving your enemies. There was also a nice poem from Andrew Motion (Simple - copied below).

It was a fascinating series and good that it focussed as much on poets, writers and artists as on philosophers, but I wasn't convinced the conclusions were warranted from the previous arguments.

There seems a huge difference between faith and doubt. Neither have all the evidence, neither is knowledge, but with faith comes hope and action, while generally we associate doubt with despair and inaction.

What are kindness and love without action? There is no peace without justice. The eulogies to love and forgiveness reminded me of a discussion I listened to between two Christians regarding Rosa Parks and the American Civil Rights movement. One argued that it was the duty of Christians to forgive and to suffer without complaint - and therefore those engaged in civil rights protests were not acting in a Christian manner - the other felt it was the duty of Christians to speak out and act for the oppressed.

I'm not suggesting Richard Holloway is supporting inaction but the attempt to make doubt rather than faith a key part of a Christian's world-view seems to weaken the claims of those engaged in fights for justice.

In the two versions of the Ten Commandments we have in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 two reasons are given for the Sabbath. In one, the Sabbath is a remembrance of creation and therefore a day of reflection, in the other it is a remembrance of coming out of Egypt, freedom from slavery - and hence a day of liberation.

For Jesus it was clearly the liberation side of it that he followed, and any acts of love and forgiveness have to be tied into the hope of liberation.

Simple

Men came from the sea
with their unusual catch -
one hundred and fifty three.
A fire burned on the beach.

They had expected nothing,
now there was a glut,
and also this man waiting.
The charcoal was white hot.

But was the man there?
One moment it seemed so,
the next he was not.
Master, they said, don’t go.

Like thin air shimmering
when powerful heat bakes it,
he continued his waiting.
Indefinite. Definite.

The fire burned on the beach
with their unusual catch.
They had expected nothing.
Now there was too much.

– Andrew Motion