Faith + Reason = Truth

First, the trend that looks like it will end its 44-year run on November 4.  Here's my post from over 20 months ago:

February 09, 2007

Stunning U.S. Election Trend

What's up with the tree?

Today is the 1st day of the rest of this site's life!
The blog formerly known as Worth Reading [a play on my name, Tom Worth, and my hope that some of you would indeed find something worth reading] is now titled:

Faith + Reason = Truth

and has a new url to accompany it:

www.faithreasontruth.com

The old url will remain and it will continue to be published with TypePad, so nobody will be disturbed by the changes unless they choose to be.  The url www.faithreasontruth.com is in the process of being mapped to worthreading.typepad.com, which will presumably result in...well, I'm not sure exactly what, but I remain optimistically confident that the end result will be the intended outcome!  We should know anytime between an hour ago and up to 47 more hours from now, which is the window of time that these changes can take to propagate.

The focus of these writings will shift (has already shifted?) towards more philosophical and revealed truth-oriented subject matter, but the site will also continue to be a repository of whatever strikes me as relevant or moves me to compose.

So, back to the question:  what's up with the tree?

The tree symbolizes the Truth.  There is only one Truth, plainly and obviously towering over all else, revealed to all who seek it.  If you haven't found it yet, then I would suggest to you that you haven't been looking in the right place...and it is my sincerest hope and belief that you will find something here or somewhere that helps nudge you along on your own path to the Truth.  Peace be with you.

Can a person effectively and engagingly argue for something without arguing against something?  Or vice versa?
It would seem difficult to pursue one without the other, presuming that the objective is to persuade others.  For instance, Obama makes his case by villifying the current state of, well, just about everything.  McCain chooses to villify Obama personally.  Which candidate has a larger opportunity based on those targets?
Now that we know where each candidate stands in the "against" arena, what about the "for"?  Here's where McCain loses out yet again.  Obama is effectively telling America exactly what he plans to do, along with exactly what he says the effect of those policies will be.  That's where people can get confused or disagree - regardless, however, of the effects of his policies, we know what Obama stands for.
What does McCain stand for?  Not what did he used to stand for, but what does he stand for right here, right now?  We know he stands for winning the war.  Beyond that, we don't know a lot, other than that he's against Obama's proposals.
In the final analysis, Obama is against more of the concrete, real world problems than McCain appears to be.  Obama is also for more of the things that matter to people than McCain appears to be.  In politics, appearances are everything; therefore, whatever these two men ACTUALLY STAND FOR OR AGAINST, Obama has outflanked McCain on every front of this engagement.

This post was intended to be a different branch of yesterday's atheism article post, but I somehow got sidetracked.  I'll pick that train of thought back up later tonight or tomorrow though!

Staring at me from a corner of my study was a Wired Magazine from 2 years ago.  The cover story was on the "New Atheists" movement being led by a group of intellectually arrogant and condescending writers, scientists, academics, and others (so now you know where I stand, in a nutshell, as if you didn't already!), and the atheistic author's internal battle with how best to express his own views in the face of a religious public.  I had saved it all that time, waiting for the proper mindset and time to engage.  Today at lunch was that time.
Gary Wolf penned the piece, and with his efforts has vaulted himself to the top of my list of Favorite Declared Atheists.  It may be a short list, but that's alright.  Yes, he educated the reader in matters both atheistic and religious, but it is the manner in which he grappled with the subject that captured me.  Until the very last paragraph, although I was aware of where he stood regarding his beliefs, I could not have foreseen where he eventually landed in his personal struggle with the most effective manner in which to exercise his freedom of (non-)religious expression.  Above all, he has shown himself to be cut from an objective, intellectually curious, and honest investigative cloth that I can only dream will one day cover the journalistic landscape of America and the world and become its rule rather than its exception.

You will find yourself believing something - no, KNOWING something, to be the truth.  You will be certain.  Then, in a flash, you will experience your "reality" suddenly crumble into a pile of rubble.  You will think, "how could this have happened?  This was virtually impossible.  It was never supposed to be this way."  9/11 was this type of experience for many of us, just 7 short years ago.  The world financial crisis is that type of event for many more of us right now.
The World Trade Center, literally turned to a pile of rubble - both towers at once?  By a few guys, with box cutters?  Are you KIDDING me?  The entire world's banking and financial system, brought to its knees by people who couldn't pay their mortgages?  LIFETIME'S worth of savings and investments wiped out over several months?  That can't happen!
Yes, it can.  It does.  It's always been this way.  It always will be.  For anyone who cares to discover for themselves, throughout recorded history, these types of events and calamities have caught humanity offguard.  Things we know, or more accurately, believe, are our among our greatest accomplishments, but they can also present the greatest threats and challenges.  These are not ultimate truths, but rather are the fruits of our own human striving.  The ultimate truths, which actually can be known and not merely believed, are revealed by God through the experience of his walk among us and interaction with us as Jesus of Nazareth 2,000 years ago.
Just wanted to remind you, as I occasionally do, that as smart as we think we are (and I am the first to admit that we HAVE come up with some pretty cool stuff throughout our existence on this planet!), we must still look to God for the answers to the questions that really matter.  As we have proven time and time again, we're just not quite as brilliant or omniscient as we think we are, and the fact that something has not yet occurred does not preclude it from happening at some point in the future.

October 21, 2008:  that was the day that I opined as a free-thinking citizen of the world on the topic of abortion as an election issue (though vehemently opposed to abortion, I could rationalize how I could still vote for Obama).

October 23, 2008:  this is the day that I write as "a Catholic" and not as "one who attends Catholic Mass" and espouses the faith when it suits me.

It is, in actuality, all about abortion when it comes to election issues and the Church.  In her eyes, there is no greater "intrinsically evil" act than the taking of innocent life, and the numbers regarding abortion are staggering:

48 MILLION innocent human lives have been ended by abortion since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in America 35 years ago.  I assume those numbers are for legal abortions in America, based on the context of the data given, but I have not verified that because it does not matter to me; wherever they lived, they are still dead.

Would Obama make a better leader than McCain?  Would the stock market and my retirement fund fare better over the next 4 or 8 years with Obama?  Would black Americans feel better about our nation if a black President were elected?  Would other nations have their notions of America as a country turned upside down if we were to do that?  It matters not, because millions and millions of innocent lives will be taken by abortion over the next 4 or 8 years with a President who supports the practice as emphatically as it has ever been supported by a potential President.

Can McCain get abortion stopped as President?  I doubt it.  It still seems to be up to the Supreme Court having the right case come along.  But at least he WOULD end it if it were up to him, whereas Obama would not.  And for all the leadership and intelligence and coolness and African heritage in the world, I would not trade the sanctity of the life of an innocent child, let alone millions of them.

Therefore, I cannot support or condone anyone who would stand up in favor of violating that sanctity when I have the option of supporting someone who has done and would continue to do all in their power to protect it.

     Not to tip my hand or anything (honestly, I am still undecided, though getting more decided as the days roll on), but I'm referring to my own (along with many others like me) struggle with being a Catholic, being as anti-abortion as they come, and leaning towards voting for a man whose voting record is apparently as pro-baby murder as they come.
   How can this be?  Doesn't that make me the anti-Christ, or at least the anti-Catholic?  No, it really doesn't.  For one thing, I'm not voting for Pope, I'm voting for President of the United States.  If the Pope WERE running for President, I wouldn't necessarily vote for him.  There are countless reasons why our country's government and our citizens' religious beliefs remain separated from one another, and that's how things ought to be in these times.  Long ago, that wasn't the case, but now it is.
     Secondly, many a Catholic priest or bishop will insist that abortion is the one and only issue of relevance in any election.  Many - but not all.  There is the issue of Iraq not being a "just war" in the eyes of Pope John Paul II, and there is the issue of the death penalty being supported by Republicans in general.  There are always opportunities to take steps to reduce (or end) genocide and hunger and poverty around the globe, even if those activities do not directly secure our Middle East oil supply.  Must EVERYTHING we do regarding foreign policy decisions have to be based upon "securing our Middle East oil supply"?  There is the economy.  This, like most elections, is about numerous issues, almost none of which are black and white or right and wrong (except for abortion, of course, which is ALWAYS right vs. wrong).
     The third over-riding reason for me to be ok voting for Obama as a Catholic, if I so choose, is that abortion in America is not going away.  Not in my lifetime, anyway.  I do believe that one day, society will look back on abortion as a barbaric practice that is universally abhorred and condemned, like the universal and ancient institution of slavery before it, but that we aren't close to that day right now.  If the first 6 years of George W. Bush and the Republican Congress couldn't get anything done regarding abortion, it's certainly not going to happen in the present and future Democrat-dominated government of the U.S.  The Supreme Court, which gave us this mess in the first place, is our only chance, if they can somehow rule that it is a state issue and not a federal issue; and although that decision would undoubtedly result in some Southern states outlawing the heinous and foul act, most would not.

    "A great deal of the information is, obviously, personal, because past achievements are not guarantees of future ones. It is good to know more about the personalities of each candidate. Acquaintances and friends of the past can indicate a tendency or proclivity of that candidate to take certain things or aspects into greater account. Though not in and of themselves a proof, a spouse, children and surely friends create some kind of a framework by which to assess the candidate."
                                                              -  Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, On Faith panelist, October 8, 2008

The Rabbi does not beat us over the head with "you must think this" or "this has to mean that."  Rather, he simply points out that which we know to be true, based on our own life experiences and learning, then leaves it to us to draw our own conclusions and act accordingly.  Which is what we will do anyway, whether someone attempts to forcibly coerce our decision process or not.

Genius, I am certain, can be found in the realm of dealings with other human beings.  Some have it, while almost all of us do not.  This Rabbi clearly does, as did another famous Rabbi who roamed the Judaean desert long ago.  They may physically lose out in the short term, but they will continue to impact their fellow man and woman long after they are gone.  Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. spring to mind instantly, but there were and are many others, people of peace who were put down by people of violence, but whose voices only grew that much louder after their deaths due to the impressions that were made on others.

What does this post have to do with what I think of Obama's past associations?  Nothing at all.  I was just moved by the simple yet profound wisdom found in another's response to it, that's all.