OPPORTUNITIES TO DOUBT

I've got 'em (opportunities, that is) on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. For a 'faithhead', I've sure got a full Calendar of Questions on my immediate horizon.

SUNDAY, 5:00 PM: The Central Valley Alliance of Atheists and Skeptics (CVAAS) will hold its first meeting at its new time and place:

Fresno Center for Nonviolence
1584 N Van Ness (SE corner of McKinley and Van Ness)
Fresno , CA 93728

In its mission statement, CVASS aims at promoting "secular viewpoints in support of the non-theists who live throughout the California Central Valley. We urge camaraderie among the secular community and their supporters, and encourage joining or forming affiliated non-theistic groups so that we may pool our resources together to further our mutual goals. We accept that rational scientific inquiry has proved to be the best way to understand the natural world in which we live; and that ethical questions are best answered when based upon sympathy and empathy for our fellow humans." Hopefully, having this 'herd of cats' gather on what is nominally a day of rest will facilitate a larger group of questioners to participate.

MONDAY, 6:30 PM: Central Valley Cafe Scientifique has its next gathering, and the Halloween-themed presentation by Dr. Kevin Miller on the use of DNA in identifying skeletal remains promises to be a hoot. . . . as well as a powerful stimulus for thinking critically. Yours Truly will be there with a clipboard, looking quasi-official.


TUESDAY, 7:30 PM: The Fresno chapter of Hugh Ross's organization 'Reasons To Believe', in concert with other Christian organizations, is sponsoring a talk by astronomer Jeff Zweerink that will seek to use evidence from cosmology to argue to the existence of the God of the Bible. Talk about a critical thinking opportunity! I'll be taking a group of students from my high school to this event.

Finally, on the subject of opportunities to doubt. . . . . believe it or not, there's church. Worship services are an excellent place to ask your self what you believe, and why---and it's not really worship if it's slavish and immune to real doubt. The paradox of real faith is that it must always feel free to question! I have to confess that I doubt all the time, and one of the things of which I am dubious is the degree to which how many of the 'faithful' are actually capable of real doubt, and how many are merely terrified at the prospect. But I want to assure those outside the pews that honest doubt really goes hand-in-hand with real faith---or at least that's my experience.