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 and your intellect. The question Boyd addresses is: "How can doubt be healthy rather than destructive to one's faith?" TO ACCESS THIS ARTICLE ONLINE click here.
READING #2
The second reading for our discussion is an article I wrote for the same summer 2009 issue of Sunstone. The foundation for my article is a series of oral interviews I conducted with 6 Mormon intellectuals. Each of these people at one point seriously considered leaving the Mormon Church, but all ultimately decided to stay committed. My article tells their crisis of faith stories, then asks this question: "How and why did they decide to stay committed Mormons?" In exploring this question I deal head on with my own crisis of faith experience and explain why I consider it to be one of the greatest blessings of my life. TO ACCESS THIS ARTICLE ONLINE click here.
A BIT OF CONTEXT
As both of these articles discuss the "doubting" experiences of real people, I hope they will help us move beyond theory and get to the heart of what can be an extremely painful and/or wonderful human experience. These are powerful stories, and I think many of us will relate to them on some level. During our discussion, I would like everyone to feel safe to discuss personal experiences. These issues can be sensitive of course, so an environment of openness, trust, and confidentiality is essential.
Note that both of these documents discuss the "doubting" experience primarily within the Mormon context. However, I hope our discussion can branch out to include other faith traditions, as well as viewpoints from agnosticism and atheism, which, depending on how you define faith, are also very interested in the questions these issues raise.
I look forward to our discussion. This is meaningful stuff, and there are few topics I enjoy discussing more!
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 and your intellect. The question Boyd addresses is: "How can doubt be healthy rather than destructive to one's faith?" TO ACCESS THIS ARTICLE ONLINE click here.
READING #2
The second reading for our discussion is an article I wrote for the same summer 2009 issue of Sunstone. The foundation for my article is a series of oral interviews I conducted with 6 Mormon intellectuals. Each of these people at one point seriously considered leaving the Mormon Church, but all ultimately decided to stay committed. My article tells their crisis of faith stories, then asks this question: "How and why did they decide to stay committed Mormons?" In exploring this question I deal head on with my own crisis of faith experience and explain why I consider it to be one of the greatest blessings of my life. TO ACCESS THIS ARTICLE ONLINE click here.
A BIT OF CONTEXT
As both of these articles discuss the "doubting" experiences of real people, I hope they will help us move beyond theory and get to the heart of what can be an extremely painful and/or wonderful human experience. These are powerful stories, and I think many of us will relate to them on some level. During our discussion, I would like everyone to feel safe to discuss personal experiences. These issues can be sensitive of course, so an environment of openness, trust, and confidentiality is essential.
Note that both of these documents discuss the "doubting" experience primarily within the Mormon context. However, I hope our discussion can branch out to include other faith traditions, as well as viewpoints from agnosticism and atheism, which, depending on how you define faith, are also very interested in the questions these issues raise.
I look forward to our discussion. This is meaningful stuff, and there are few topics I enjoy discussing more!
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