This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz by Michael Cote. Original Post: Reality Making, Religion, and Certainty Feed Title: Cote's Weblog: Coding, Austin, etc. Feed URL: https://cote.io/feed/ Feed Description: Using Java to get to the ideal state. Latest Java Buzz Posts Latest Java Buzz Posts by Michael Cote Latest Posts From Cote's Weblog: Coding, Austin, etc.

If you have the time, I'd suggest reading this article from the NY Times Magazine, "Without a Doubt":

"Faith can cut in so many ways," he said. "If you're penitent and not triumphal, it can move us to repentance and accountability and help us reach for something higher than ourselves. That can be a powerful thing, a thing that moves us beyond politics as usual, like Martin Luther King did. But when it's designed to certify our righteousness -- that can be a dangerous thing. Then it pushes self-criticism aside. There's no reflection.

"Where people often get lost is on this very point," he said after a moment of thought. "Real faith, you see, leads us to deeper reflection and not -- not ever -- to the thing we as humans so very much want."

And what is that?

"Easy certainty."

It has a lot of the insider quotes, anecdotes, and stories that make Woodward books so interesting...along with further discussion about the sharp divide, in America, between the moral/angry-right and the intellectual/cautious-left.

(Link via low culture.)