Intellectual Honesty

I think this just about sums up everything that I believe about faith:

I am an agnostic of the “I’m almost certain God does not exist, but intellectual honesty requires me to admit I just don’t know” stripe, so in a obvious, literal sense Matthew 6 can’t do much for me.

That's John Scalzi talking about Matthew 6 (of the Bible, in case anyone was confused and thought maybe it was an offshoot of Maroon 5) but it could just as easily have been talking about any sort of religion.  He also has some things to say on the subject of what a good person is, which jive nicely with one of my favorite saws: "Someone who is nice to you and rude to the waiter is not a nice person." "Character is what you do when no one is watching" says it better perhaps, but I don't like it as much.

Atheists are certain of something which cannot be made certain. No offense to atheists, with whom I sometimes identify, but whether they like it or not, a lack of faith in God simply isn't enough to be an atheist.  You have to believe God doesn't exist. And that's certainty in something which, as Mr. Scalzi so neatly puts it, "intellectual honesty requires" one to admit is uncertain.

I hold no beef with agnosticism; intellectual honesty requires me to admit that I don't know either, even if my hope is in some divinity and my lack of certainty is in the existence of such a divinity, rather than in its lack of existence.  I admire someone who can say, "I don't know."  Socrates certainly did, and he had a point, I think.  Certainty is dangerous; if you're certain of something, you can build upon that foundation, each brick as sturdy as the last, and you might build a glorious temple or an abattoir, each with just as unshakable foundations.  Not only that, but you might not know your temple was an abattoir (or vice versa, I suppose).  And if the foundation ever becomes less certain, less secure, the whole structure is imperiled.

Those who are uncertain question. They build slowly, and they build carefully, trying to make it so that the building won't fall just because a brick is removed.  I would argue that a faith untested is hardly a faith at all; doubt is important, questioning is important.  Uncertainty helps that. It says, "I don't know," and that isn't a fatal flaw.

Watch out for people who don't have the intellectual honesty to admit they could be wrong. Watch out for those people of certainty, the people who are sure. They may forge ahead under adversity, leading the way to a better tomorrow.  Or they may be unstoppable juggernauts, insuring the doom of today. And you may never know the difference until it's too late, so don't be sure of them.