Comments on: Embracing Spiritual Doubt

By: Roger Hansen

Roger Hansen — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:56:18 +0000

In Time magazine (22 Mar 2010) a question was posed to Desmond Tutu.

Have you ever had doubts about your faith? “Doubts? No. Anger with God? Yes. Plenty of that. I’ve remonstrated with God quite frequently and said, “What the heck are you up to? Why are you letting these oppressors get away with this injustice?” But doubting that God is good? That God is love? No.”

By: Roger Hansen

Roger Hansen — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:08:20 +0000

I agree 100 percent. This is a topic I have covered elsewhere, for example in my post “Teach Your Children Well.” The days when Mormons can claim that they have a monopoly on truth, particularly as it relates to the Book of Mormon, are over. Luckily there have been several articles in Church publications that have emphasized the need for a better understanding of other’s beliefs and for more tolerance. I aplaud these efforts. Obviously the speaker in question hasn’t got the message yet. As for the other issue, too many males on the program, hopefully that too is also changing. But probably more slowly in Utah County.

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 27 May 2010 17:28:07 +0000

I attended my niece’s Seminary graduation on Sunday night. It was enjoyable (because I was there to support her), but too long and boring. I was mostly disappointed in (though not surprised) that it was speaker after speaker of males in the hierarchy. A token female student spoke. One of the gentlemen, felt the need (again) to tell the audience that if “anyone in the audience believed in any other book other than ‘the Book of Mormon’, then they were living their lives under false pretense”. He held up the book for visual effects. The chapel was silent as he made the comment. I couldn’t help but think, what if there is someone in this chapel (which was full) who is not LDS? Who embraces another Christian religion or other faith? How does this type of rhetoric make them feel? We (mormon speakers) have got to do a better job at being a bit less bold in our talks when it clearly could hurt/offend someone else. Credability issues abound when you’ve got someone lambasting the world from the pulpit while holding up “the only true” book in the world. A kinder, gentler approach is a much more effective missionary tool.

By: Roger Hansen

Roger Hansen — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 15:49:15 +0000

Gina Welch in her book “In the Land of Believers” wrote about the Evangelicals (which she infiltrated) as reported by Margaret DeRitter of the Religion News Service (3 Mar 2010 in SLTrib):

“One of the things she found troubling was what she calls “intellectual passivity.” The people she met were generally “uncritical of the institutions they subscribe to,” she said. “They toe the party line. They accept the mythology about gay people, about the environment, about the outside world without testing its truthfulness.”

But Gina was generally complimentary about the evangelicals she dealt with.

By: Roger Hansen

Roger Hansen — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:41:00 +0000

In an article published in July in Newsweek, Malcom Jones compared Lincoln and Darwin. They were both born on the same day: Feb. 12, 1809. “Both lost their mothers in early childhood. Both suffered from depression, and both wrestled with spiritual doubt.” And each was a late boomer. For both I “spritual doubt” was an important part of the personna, and one of the reasons that made them great.

By: Roger Hansen

Roger Hansen — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:17:33 +0000

Recent revelations concerning the late Mother Teresa have provided an interesting perspective on doubt. In dozens of letters (published in August 2007), Mother Teresa lamented the “emptiness” she felt and confessed her struggles with faith, and her doubts about the existence of heaven. While such doubt may be difficult for some to comprehend, given that she is on the fast-track to Catholic sainthood, for me it is very refreshing. I think the world would be better off, as would the Mormon Church, if there was a better understanding of the human need to doubt. Mother Teresa just may end up the patron saint of all skeptics.

It has been suggested that DNA can play a major role in faith and religiousity, as can environment. Some of us may be wired to believe, while some may be wired and influenced to doubt (think about Mother Teresa environment in Calcutta). My father was able to balance his doubt and his church membership. But his three sons have not. When my father died recently, on his death bed, I wonder what he was thinking or imagining?