Two stories that illustrate the contemporary conviction that faith & reason are enemies
1. I was listening to Colin Cowherd's sports-talk radio show yesterday morning. There was a survey asking people if they'd rather have a Starbucks or a McDonalds in their neighborhood. A good portion of people said they'd prefer to have a McDonalds. Cowherd suggested that people answering 'McDonalds' simply didn't understand the question. If the question were 'Where would you rather get a snack,' McDonalds would be a fine answer, he said. But if the question is which one you'd rather have in your neighborhood, it HAS to be Starbucks! Why? Because if there's a Starbucks in your neighborhood it means you live in a richer, smarter, more reasonable place. In contrast, if you live near a Mcdonalds you live in a cheaper, dumber, more religious place. Reasonable intellectuals were contrasted with religious zealots.
2. Later in the evening I was watching The Daily Show and Jon Stewart was interviewing Ricky Gervais. Gervais was commenting about his 'moron' friend who actually believes the story of Noah's Ark. He tried to inform his friend that there are 4 million species, but his friend just responded that the ark was really big. So, once again, it's the reasonable vs. the religious. Now, whether you think the Noah's ark story is fact of fiction doesn't really matter, in this case, since it has been scientifically demonstrated that, if it is a true story, only 16 thousand different 'kinds' of animals would be necessary and it has been reasonably shown that the ark had plenty of room for that number of animals.
Since the enlightenment, many have been trying to put faith & reason at odds with each other. It's hard to make it through a half hour of media, these days, without hearing attempts to re-enforce this principle. But it's simply a modern myth. Christianity (the 'religion' being targeted in both of these illustrations) is based on historical realities, the testimony of skeptical disciples, and argumentation. Faith, Biblically speaking, is not a blind leap against reason, but a step of obedience because of reason.
