No. 3 - The desire for something to believe in

Hugh MacKay writes like so many Australians - he has rejected the conservative Christian faith of his upbringing (Baptist, I think!?) but has returned (in later life) to a sense of the numinous that he finds in a more liberal Christianity.

So he attacks all forms of fundamentalism - be it Atheistic or Theistic. Dawkins and Hitchens get short shrift but so do any religious believers who take their faith a bit too seriously. This leaves us with something a bit too vanilla. There is some good sociological analysis about belief reinforcement and the desire for certainty but he doesn't actually answer anything.

For example, let's take the desire for certainty - why is it so popular? Now that is a conversation worth having.

It may well be because I'm a Christian but this chapter was the least satisfying of the book. There is no traction here. We seem to need people and religious ideas to believe in. And? Simply saying 'that a bit of belief is okay just don't take it too seriously' is both intellectually weak and emotionally unsatisfying. If something is true how is it possible to believe it too much?

So called 'fundamentalists' do often bring the gospel into disrepute but the world does not need less passionate followers of Jesus, it needs more passionate ones!