There is an important debate about the type of faith that Christians should hold. I was recently involved in a frustrating argument with a fellow Christian, and it made me realize that being religious is not straightforward. One common approach to the Bible is to read it like a book of laws that one cannot and should not contest, while another approach is to engage in vigorous discussion about it in order to decide whether or not it makes sense. I believe the latter is the preferable approach to understanding the Bible and following Christianity.
We students have all seen the village idiot around campus spewing obscenity and using the Bible as a weapon. He epitomizes a naive, blind "faith" — a type of faith that exists in a much less demented form in many Christians. Luckily, groups like Ratio Christi (literally "rationality of Christ") lead the opposite charge.
This question is important: Christianity is the most common form of religion. In the U.S., 83 percent of citizens are Christian; that is more than 264 million people. In the world, there are about 2.2 billion Christians.
With so many people following Christianity, that distinction has global implications. Even for non-Christians, the way that billions of people choose to follow their religion affects everyone, and I find one type of follower to be somewhat abrasive.
Doubtless, credulous believers, at least the ones I have argued with, don't just accept the teachings of the Bible without hesitation — they also consider an inquisitive attitude towards the Bible to be blasphemous, or otherwise sinful. That outlook is inherently wrong, and dangerous to the integrity of Christianity itself.
On an abstract level, I believe God makes it clear to humans that we are not intended to be preprogrammed bots; that may be the entire purpose for allowing Adam and Eve to fall in the Garden of Eden. Through giving them the choice to do evil, God necessarily provided Adam and Eve with reasoning faculties for making decisions; I believe we should use the same reasoning faculties to believe in a religion.
On a practical level, blind faith repulses non-Christians and atheists, especially in today's world. It only serves to reinforce bad stereotypes about believers when they scold atheists and tell them to accept Christianity without asking questions. It makes Christianity appear to be an enemy of knowledge and reason — a 180-degree turn from what it truly is. Furthermore, among practicing Christians there is still a need for rational dialogue: The Bible must be interpreted, varying doctrines and catechism's must be drafted to ensure consistency and structures for accommodating believers must be made.
Mere Christianity is not the thing that has attracted billions of followers; a process that appeals to human intelligence has brought many in, myself included.
I also contend that a Christian who always explores the Bible through the lens of reason can develop a firmer faith. It's similar to mathematics: It's much easier to be certain that you have the correct answer after having done the steps to find it than it is to be certain after having been told by a friend what to write. Taking the steps to understand, instead of blindly believing, is also the honest process, and represents a legitimate attempt to.
The same goes for non-Christians: It's better to have read the Bible and dismissed it after careful thought than it is to have dismissed it in reaction to a gut feeling. The former leads to an understanding, which can inform an honest decision. Therefore, everyone, not only Christians, are better off using an informed methodology to approach religion. Choosing to doubt the teachings of a religion until fully understanding them leads to a firmer faith and a wiser mind.
Related links
Generation Y: Shedding our religion
Jack of all clubs: Sun Devils are Better Together
Reach the columnist at gheiler@asu.edu or follow @heilergeorge on Twitter.
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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