How do we prove that faith is not idiotic?

The first ecclesiastical territory to be established in Southern Africa in 1818, was what is now the archdiocese of Cape Town. In fact, it is still known as the mother church not only of Southern Africa, but also of Australia and New Zealand.

Now the archdiocese has undertaken, under the eminent direction of Archbishop Stephen Brislin, to encourage the formation of Small Faith-Sharing Groups, under the Ecclesia programme.

Ecclesia is intended to be a means of reflecting on and rediscovering our faith and the relationship we have with Jesus the Christ who is God’s grace made manifest in the world.

These groups are recommended to comprise between six and 12 people who meet to read Scriptures, to reflect on them, and to pray together.

I’m discovering that faith-sharing groups are a great way to meet and get to know others in my parish.

Obviously the group works well when there’s an understanding of discretion in what the members share among each other. Beyond the initial shocks of recognition (as the result of a wonderful mixture of people of different background), it is amazing how an unpretentious frankness of faith-sharing opens up bonds of trust.

The first reason people provide for joining a faith-sharing group is to deepen their faith—some feel complacent in their faith and would like to be more committed. Group members help each other answer questions about our faith which we are faced with daily in a world that is predominantly secular in its values.

It is not common these days to meet up with intelligent people with practised arguments against the existence of God. They usually take us by surprised since we move from an assumed premise that the existence of God is obvious. Yet, we often find that we have no intellectual muscle to argue that premise, and often look foolish and feel belittled by their well-constructed support of atheism.

Even friends, colleagues or families, even if they are prepared to indulge our beliefs, don’t see why we should go for what they call the “naivety of religion”. They say we are afraid to deal with things in a rational manner.

Then there are questions from the believing side, especially from the “born again” establishments: “Are you born again? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal saviour?”

The question that gets me most—because I feel there’s a modicum of truth in it—is that some of us Catholics, in attempting not to fall into the trap of fundamentalism, tend to be mushy and dilute our faith.

For instance, most Catholics would correctly say they do not take everything written in the Bible literally, especially the first books of the Old Testament. But the concern is that once you start on that path, you might find yourself thinking that perhaps you should not take virgin birth or even the resurrection too literally either.

Prayer, because it is a proposition, is a privilege enjoyed by people with real faith. It is the practice of a propositional belief that advocates not only that God exists, but that he is also concerned for the world and for individuals (to an extent of entering history by suspending physical laws to achieve the purpose of salvation for us Christians).

For us Catholics in particular, faith requires that we assent to the activities of God based on belief and history.

The challenge then is to face those who think religious faith is a blind leap that hurls the believer into infinite idiocy. How do you prove your faith is not idiotic when you can’t even prove the existence of God?

We must first start by shedding the need to prove God’s existence. God has spoken on this matter once and for all to Moses. God refuses to be reduced into metaphor: I am who I am.

According to Pope Benedict, God does not need qualification. For people of goodwill and humility, this is enough. Hence the archangel Gabriel says the birth of Christ brings peace to them.

Of course the acceptance of an unqualified God does not mean our faithful do not struggle with the hidden God. Like Moses we sometimes lose patience and strike the rock twice.

This is why we need the community of believers to encourage each other. And that the Catholic community can do so well through faith-sharing groups.