In the US, more and more adults believe in “nothing in particular.” Recent surveys from Pew Research and the Associated Press suggest that around 30% of American adults are religiously unaffiliated, up 10% from a decade ago.
Surveys like these are helpful for religious belief in the abstract. But, when it comes to the questions and doubts you hold about your faith — or lack thereof — you need a different tool: story.
You'll hear two such stories today — and be invited to consider your own story, too. Hear Sam Mitchell (Mount Holyoke), an atheist philosopher, in dialogue with Christian philosopher, Meghan Sullivan (Notre Dame). They share how they developed their worldviews and discuss the challenges of belief in the particular. This Forum conversation was held in 2016 at Mount Holyoke College and is moderated by economics professor Jim Hartley. Thank you to the Forum planning team who made this event possible!
Part of God not overwhelming us with information is that he forces us to work together to try to figure out the best ways to worship him. And that's the kind of good that "hidden-ness" serves.
Many people find discussing religion so hard, and it gets really hard as soon as it starts getting personal at all.
There's always a problem with the problem of evil. You can say, "Why does God allow suffering, generally?" and start to come up with a theory. But then you can point to some particularly awful, pointless, really salient event like, you know, a small child getting diagnosed with terminal cancer or a tsunami that happened in Indonesia. That's a particularly hard version of the problem of evil to answer.
If we think religion is never allowed to be entered into democratic discourse, then we end up really disrespecting large groups of people that have serious reasons and arguments that they want to share. Part of living well in a pluralistic democracy is letting those arguments get a hearing and deciding if they're any good.
