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Showing posts from May, 2010

June 1, 2010: Is Doubt Necessary for Faith?

A disturbing trend in our society is that of intelligent people who decide to abandon belief in religion and God. Too often the culprit of such decisions is that the faith communities of which they are a part do not look upon doubt as a virtue, leaving these people to feel as if there is no place for them. What would happen if these faith communities decided to decriminalize doubt? How might a religious community and its members be affected if they began to emphasize doubt as an important, even necessary, component for increasing one's faith? READING #1 An article from the summer 2009 issue of Sunstone Magazine will form the basis of our discussion. The paper is written by Boyd Petersen, a religious studies professor at Utah Valley University and the son-in-law of Hugh Nibley, a prominent Mormon scholar recently deceased. Boyd's article is based on conversations and surveys he has done with his students over the years. Their stories are stunning and will tug at your emotions a...