{"id":116,"date":"2013-09-20T20:58:49","date_gmt":"2013-09-20T14:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/?p=116"},"modified":"2013-09-20T20:58:49","modified_gmt":"2013-09-20T14:58:49","slug":"francis-is-pretty-cool-except-for-the-god-stuff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/2013\/09\/20\/francis-is-pretty-cool-except-for-the-god-stuff\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis is pretty cool, except for the God stuff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pope-Francis\"<\/a>Recently, I got an email inviting me to read this piece about Pope Francis.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.americamagazine.org\/pope-interview<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s my reply:<\/span><\/p>\n

Absolutely. \u00a0Francis is a welcome development in the Catholic church. \u00a0I’m watching with interest. \u00a0Today, he came close to telling the truth: \u00a0that continuing to bray against contraception and homosexuality is laughably out of touch with genuine love for humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n

But of course, he can’t say anything bad about God. \u00a0His comments about finding God are a step in the right direction: \u00a0if there is a God, no church has special access. \u00a0But he doesn’t say anything about God’s character. \u00a0He’s too politically smart to touch that topic.\u00a0 But any theologian knows this much:<\/span><\/p>\n

If God is real, it doesn\u2019t follow that we should worship him. \u00a0It really matters what God is like. \u00a0He could exist and be unworthy of our devotion. \u00a0Mere existence isn’t enough. \u00a0He must be deserving of respect and love. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Francis is very expansive on how people can find God. \u00a0But however we experience God, there are limits to what he can be like. \u00a0We know this much for sure:\u00a0\u00a0He either can’t reduce suffering further, or he doesn’t care to. \u00a0There are no other options.\u00a0\u00a0This is a logical necessity, so It isn’t arrogant to say it with certainty. \u00a0In fact, I must say it in order to look my neighbor in the eye. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, if he is all good, he must be constrained in some way. \u00a0He must be unable to treat the least among us any better. \u00a0This was Rabbi Kushner’s position. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the price of this view is high: \u00a0If God can’t do any better, it means he can’t help us any further, despite the fact that humans reduce suffering all the time with Tylenol, surgery, insulin and on and on. \u00a0If humans can do it, it seems God could. \u00a0But believers are very clever and haven\u2019t given up finding a way out for god:<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s one possibility: humans can do evil and God can’t.\u00a0 Perhaps the help humans give to make up for God’s neglect is evil. \u00a0God is constrained by his nature to do only what is good. \u00a0Perhaps all the bad things we see are either Good from God’s perspective, or they are the evil acts of errant humans. \u00a0Surely God is not responsible for any of the Bad stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n

But then we’d have to say that reducing suffering that God does not might be evil. \u00a0Toothbrushes are of the Devil, derailing God\u2019s plan that millions die of tooth infections. \u00a0Obviously, this turns normal morality inside out: \u00a0if God does nothing to help a kid who’s on fire, it’s Good. \u00a0And if a human does help her, it might be evil, unless God is working through that human. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But what of those cases where kids die alone in wells, fires or crushed under rubble? \u00a0God sends no human to help them, and does nothing himself. \u00a0In these cases, the believer has to say God can’t do any better, lest he cause greater suffering elsewhere. \u00a0Trust him. \u00a0But trust like this isn’t trust. \u00a0When we trust someone no matter how they treat us, that is abuse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suffering makes sense in a natural world.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s even expected.\u00a0\u00a0The problems begin when we try to place a loving, powerful God above it all. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems that most people simply have such a great need for a loving God that they hold out hope against hope that he can be all Good. \u00a0But as far as I can tell, it is ruled out. \u00a0The most the believer can hope for is that God might be good to them.\u00a0 But if he’s already doing the best he can, then he can’t even control who prospers and who suffers. \u00a0Leibniz realized this, and said that this world must be the best of all possible worlds, because God’s nature would not let him create anything else.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, any God who fits the facts is pitiful. \u00a0He weeps with us, unable to do any better. \u00a0He’s locked into his nature, along for the ride in his own creation. \u00a0Sure, he can take credit for love and puppies. \u00a0But he’s on the hook for smallpox and Batten disease. \u00a0Tough spot. \u00a0That’s not the God of the Bible, and it’s not Jesus’ God. \u00a0It\u2019s more of a force of nature, made miserable by being conscious and moral, yet limited in what he can do.<\/span><\/p>\n

I can’t love my neighbor while worshiping a God who could do better and just doesn\u2019t. \u00a0And the most I can feel toward a weak god is pity. \u00a0If you have a better god, I’d love to hear about it. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As far as I can tell, to hold out hope that God is perfectly loving is to defect from the human family, hoping to get some of God’s love while being sure billions more won’t.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is what Francis can’t say, because he’s a politician, and politicians are in the business of staying in power, not telling the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.” \u00a0– \u00a0Mahatma Gandhi<\/span><\/p>\n

Don<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, I got an email inviting me to read this piece about Pope Francis. http:\/\/www.americamagazine.org\/pope-interview Here’s my reply: Absolutely. \u00a0Francis is a welcome development in the Catholic church. \u00a0I’m watching with interest. \u00a0Today, he came close to telling the truth: \u00a0that continuing to bray against contraception and homosexuality is laughably out of touch with genuine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/enoughsenough\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}