The Weak of Faith

It is always striking to me that those who speak the loudest about their faith are those who seem to feel that everything is a threat to their faith. To me this in no way illustrates a strong faith on their part, but rather an extremely weak faith.

One of the most ludicrous examples are those who feel threatened by fantasy books like Harry Potter. This issue has come up recently in Georgia schools because a mother with apparently very weak faith felt threatened by this book and wanted it banned. Thankfully the Georgia school board, in this instance, has been more reasonable. From Salon.com:

The Georgia Board of Education voted Thursday to uphold a local school board's decision to leave Harry Potter books on library shelves despite a mother's objections.

The board members voted without discussion to back the Gwinnett County school board's decision to deny Laura Mallory's request to remove the best-selling books.

Mallory, who has three children in elementary school, has worked for more than a year to ban the books from Gwinnett schools, claiming the popular fiction series is an attempt to indoctrinate children in witchcraft.

"It's mainstreaming witchcraft in a subtle and deceptive manner, in a children-friendly format," said Mallory, who is considering a legal challenge of the board's ruling. "The kind of stuff in these books -- murder and greed and violence. Why do they have to read them in school?"

May I just point out that there is ample examples of witchcraft, murder, greed and violence in the bible as well. Yet I am sure she exposes her children to the bible.

Why does a fictional children's story threaten this woman's beliefs? Why do the Teletubbies threaten the faith of evangelical Christians like Jerry Falwell?

Why are Iranian Islamic extremists so threatened by the facts that surround the attempted extermination of European Jews?

Why do so many heterosexuals claim that the "institution of marriage" is threatened by homosexuals being in love? Personally, my marriage depends on my wife and myself, not on any other couple's relationship, heterosexual or homosexual.

Why do so many Christians fear the facts of evolution, a theory that is about as well supported as the theory of gravity?

To me, all of these show a profound lack of faith by the individuals in question. They are weak so they want everyone else to change to conform to their beliefs lest they have to consider another viewpoint.

I am a pro-Israel Jew who has studied about other religions and is sympathetic to Palestinians. I am a liberal who is open to the ideas of traditional conservativism, like fiscal responsibility. I am a heterosexual who welcomes homosexual marriages. I feel strong in my beliefs so I don't feel threatened when others have different beliefs than I have. Isn't it time all these time wasters start focusing on the development of their own faith rather than trying to force the rest of the world to conform to their narrow little views?

Me and the Teletubbies got this to say to those who are weak of faith: Your weakness is not our fault, so mellow the hell out!

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Words to live by

By the time a century or two of exploitation has passed there comes about a veritable emaciation of the stock of national culture. It becomes set of automatic habits, some traditions of dress and a few broken-down institutions. Little movement can be discerned in such remnants of culture; there is no real creativity and no overflowing life. The poverty of the people, national oppression and the inhibition of culture are one and the same thing. After a century of colonial domination we find a culture which is rigid in the extreme, or rather what we find are the dregs of culture, its mineral strata. The withering away of the reality of the nation and the death-pangs of the national culture are linked to each other in mutual dependences This is why it is of capital importance to follow the evolution of these relations during the struggle for national freedom. The negation of the native's culture, the contempt for any manifestation of culture whether active or emotional and the placing outside the pale of all specialised branches of organisation contribute to breed aggressive patterns of conduct in the native. But these patterns of conduct are of the reflexive type; they are poorly differentiated, anarchic and ineffective. Colonial exploitation, poverty and endemic famine drive the native more and more to open, organised revolt. The necessity for an open and decisive breach is formed progressively and imperceptibly, and comes to be felt by the great majority of the people. Those tensions which hitherto were non-existent come into being. International events, the collapse of whole sections of colonial empires and the contradictions inherent in the colonial system strengthen and uphold the native's combativity while promoting and giving support to national consciousness.

— Franz Fanon, Reciprocal Bases of National Culture and the Fight for Freedom