In praise of doubt

Doubt has a bad name in our world. We expect people to be certain in their opinions and beliefs. We might disagree with their certainty, but we still say things like "We respect your position."

What a bunch of crap. What we don't need in this world is more certainty. We need more doubt.

Certainty that they're going to get 40 virgins helps fuel suicide bombers.

Certainty that the world can survive whatever man does to it keeps companies polluting and keeps gasoline hogging vehicles on the road.

Certainty that we're no different from the animals keeps the abortion clinics full.

Certainty that homosexuality is abhorrent gives people a nice warm, feeling as they beat gays to death.

Certainty that God never intended for the races to mingle and marry keeps us from feeling guilty as we shun them in church and talk privately about "those kind of people."

Certainty that we're right and everyone else is wrong allows us to talk about "godless liberals" and "lying conservatives" on our social media.

Certainty that our denomination is the only path to God allows us to preach against other faiths and even kill their followers if we have to.

Certainty that oil and natural gas will last forever keeps pushing the problem of diminishing resources onto our children and their children.

Certainty that the other guy is out to get us gives us permission to get him first and feel justified.

Certainty that it's better to mind our own business than get involved lets child abusers and spouse beaters continue their destruction of innocence.

Certainty that we deserve more just because of who we are rather than realizing that "there but for the grace of God go we" keeps people homeless, keeps families in poverty, keeps kids starving, keeps people dying.

Certainty that we can't change anything--that one person's effort means nothing in the face of the overwhelming problems--makes our recliners feel especially nice as we numb our brains with sex and violence on TV.

Certainty that old dogs can't learn new tricks means that we stop learning new things, we stop challenging ourselves, and we hang onto society like ticks.

I don't know about you, but I could do with more doubt in the world. We need more humility and searching, more praying and working, more striving to be better people ourselves instead of rushing around trying to remove the motes from other people's eyes while ignoring the beam in ours.

Doubt has had a bad name since the days of Thomas, but it needs to be recognized for what it is and what it's meant to be. It's meant to temper us, to give us pause, to make us wonder, to make us search, to make us strive to be better.

I'm tired of blind, unquestioning faith. I want some sighted, searching faith. I want to shake the hand of a minister, preacher, deacon, rabbi, guru, school administrator, banker, bishop, representative, senator, president, and feel the calluses that only hard work and hard-won faith can bring.

We're probably not going to get any of this, but I'm certain the world needs it.