Read this extract from: “In bad faith” by Paul Vallely.
‘In a world of conflict and uncertainty, levels of anxiety tend to rise. That causes many people to retreat into their base identities, and seek the protection of religious tribalism and presumptuous certainty. But truth can never be the criterion by which to judge this, since adherents of bad religion are usually more confident of their embrace of verity. Indeed the theologian Peter Vardy once suggested that one of the three hallmarks of bad religion is an authority that opposes independent thought and encourages unquestioning obedience. (His other two were fundamentalist readings of sacred texts and the fear of science and philosophy.)
Some responded by accusing Vardy of advocating good religion indistinguishable from secular humanism. Yet there is clearly more to it than that. … Above all, good religion imparts a sense of transcendence that teaches holiness and humility, prompting us to lament loss, seek forgiveness, give thanks and express wonder. Good religion does not denounce what it is against; it proclaims what it is for. It puts means before ends and agape before eschatology.’
Third Way, Oct 2014, p 7
How do you reconcile what Vallely says, with what Jesus said to Thomas: ‘No-one comes to the father except through me’?
How do we live faithfully as followers of Jesus in a world of conflict and uncertainty, without resorting to ‘religious tribalism and presumptuous certainty’?