Well hello to all my blogger friends (and I fully realize that I may be addressing no one). I want to address an issue that many people may feel is very sensitive. In fact, it's something that has been on my mind for a long time, but it wasn't until my kids started getting older that I realized it was a serious issue.
The issue is that of faith, or more specifically, how we adults attempt to teach faith to our youth. Part of my concern is that I don't think we actually "teach" anything. We repeat what has been driven into us for most of our lives, and we expect our youth to accept that.
If we were honest with ourselves, we would admit that issues such as faith, spiritualism, God, etc, are extremely complex concepts, more complex than many of as (all of us?) can truly comprehend. Yet we teach what we belief as if it were hard facts.
It's odd, because for the most part we are taught that when we experience difficult issues the best way to understand them is to question them. Explore different ways of thinking, discuss different concepts. In the end, we either find the truth or at least get a better understanding of it.
For some reason we are not allowed this privilege when it comes to religion. There is the "right" way to believe and the "wrong" way. The "right" way is virtually always defined by whatever our parents were taught to believe.
So we give our children two choices; 1) accept what we have been regurgitating over many years, or 2) reject faith and in essence become an atheist. Those are two pretty extreme choices.
The fact is, human beings have been wrong about most of what we have believed (science or religion) for hundreds and even thousands of years. But now we suddenly feel we know enough to be rock solid in our beliefs. Remember when that crazy Copernicus was bold enough to suggest the universe did not revolve around the earth? That was heresy then. It's fundamental truth now.
What is so wrong with people exploring their ideas and their beliefs? If intelligent young people have questions, why not research those questions. If there is a God, and I believe there is, this can only bring them closer together, not separate them. If there is not a God, who cares.
The point is that young people today have questions; serious, very legitimate questions. And let's face it; we older people do not have the answers. Can we not allow them to explore their questions? In fact, should we not actually join them in their exploration? Rather than turn away from faith, they may find a newer richer faith for themselves. And you know what? So might we.
