The Curse of always Being Right

Fundamentalists of all kinds (religious and secular) suffer from the curse of certainty – whether in Science or Scriptures, Pastor or Physicist. Having the Truth (capital intended) means those who don’t share this are ‘lost’. The false consolation of always being right has horrible side effects for the rest of us: rigid dogmatism, religious intolerance (particularly if they hold power) and, at the very least, a lack of a sense of humour.

The root of this problem, Calvin Mercer (a Biblical scholar and psychologist) tell us, is a deep sense of insecurity and a feeling of powerlessness in the world.

Fundamentalists can’t handle the complexity of the world, of faith and the messiness of moral decision-making. They retreat into pre-packaged ‘certainties’: the Bible, Koran, charismatic religious leaders or, in the case of atheists like Richard Dawkins, science. And if they can gain power in religions, organizations or states, God help those who disagree with them!

Unfortunately for them, and for us, they are wrong. The world is complex. Sacred texts are ambiguous in their meaning, doctrines develop and even change over time, moral and political issues are usually far from clear-cut. Even science rests more on theories than on hard facts, as any responsible and honest scientist admits.

Happily there are still many people – the silent majority – who do not subscribe to fundamentalist views. One such person is Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. A person of true catholicity (‘universality’), his religious vision encompasses a spirituality nurtured by Russian Orthodoxy, Teresa of Avila, classic Medieval thinkers like Augustine and Aquinas, the theology of beauty of Hans Urs van Balthasar and contemporary theologians within a range of Christian traditions. He is no stranger to controversy and engages with key figures in contemporary atheism with intelligence, compassion and humour.

While fundamentalists were baying with rage, Williams dialogued with the controversial novelist and militant atheist Philip Pullman. When Pullman published his new novel The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ earlier this year, which attacked many of the foundations of Christianity, Williams wrote a highly constructive review of the book in the British Guardian newspaper. He acknowledged that the Church has at times undermined the central Christian message of love of God and neighbour and become a vehicle for violent intolerance.

Reading Paddy Kearney’s biography of the great South African bishop Denis Hurley recently, I was reminded that Williams is not alone in this spiritual openness. Blessed John XXIII was another such person who tried to open the windows and let fresh air into the Church. These holy figures (and many, many others in other faith traditions as well) have not been afraid to ask questions. For them faith is not a matter of reciting formulas and repeating texts but an ongoing encounter with the Truth beyond truths.

Great mystics and theologians of all faiths have known this. Ordinary people know this instinctively. Doctrines like the oneness of God, expressed in the triune-ness (‘three-in-oneness’) of the Holy Trinity this Sunday, are formulas that point to the Great Mystery that is God. We accept them though we may not fully understand them.

Faith is trust in God despite not knowing everything. Unknowingly, I suspect, fundamentalism denies this trust. In this respect, fundamentalism short-changes us and God.