[Dialogue] Redefining FAITH

[Bill Schlesinger]

Faith as trust - and 'unfaith' as victim/bully shame/fear/arrogance - exist
in all religious constructs and secular ones as well as in most of us.
'Human institutions exist in unbelief' - and home is in community with
messed up folk with whom we choose to engage in grace and responsibility.
Or that's how my life seems.

 

Bill Schlesinger

Project Vida

3607 Rivera Avenue

El Paso, TX 79905

(915) 533-7057 x 207

(915) 533-7158 FAX

 <mailto:pvida at whc.net> pvida at whc.net

www.projectvidaelpaso.org

  _____  

From: dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net
[mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Marsha Hahn
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2012 6:42 AM
To: Colleague Dialogue
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Redefining FAITH

 

I find the notion that faith does not have to be tied to any particular
religious construct very freeing. This is not to say, however, that your
desire to reunite faith and religion is not a worthy one for you and others.
But the idea that faith is bigger than any one religion's domain - yes, that
is very appealing and rings true to me. Perhaps this is because I have been
unable to find a home in any organized religious tradition.

 

Thanks for sharing, Randy.

 

Marsha


Sent from my iPad


On Mar 19, 2012, at 6:43 AM, R Williams <rcwmbw at yahoo.com> wrote:


Colleagues,

 

I first knew of Jeremy Rifkin back in the 80s when I read his book Entropy.
I recently rediscovered him and find that he delves into subjects and issues
that the faint of heart would never venture near.  Here's an example from
his book The Empathic Civilization:

 

     ...faith (is) the belief that one's life is worth living, and for that
reason alone, it (has) meaning in the larger scheme of things and therefore
(needs) to be lived fully in deep connection with others.

     ...faith...can be purloined and made into a social construct that
exacts obedience, feeds on fear of death, is disembodied in its approach,
and establishes rigid boundaries separating the saved from the damned.
Institutionalized religions, for the most part, do just that.  (pgs 169-170)

 

Is this too harsh a judgment on Rifkin's part, or is he on target?  I
continue to struggle with what I perceive to be a wedge that has been driven
between faith and religion by religious institutions.  I long to see faith
and religion reunited, and an appeal to what our culture is imposing as a
rather simple understanding of "spirituality" in the form of "back to
nature" movements, etc., does little to resolve that conflict, at least for
me.

 

Randy



"Listen to what is emerging from yourself to the course of being in the
world; not to be supported by it, but to bring it to reality as it desires."
-Martin Buber (adapted)

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