Religious faith can benefit all
posted on 08 May 2008
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor delivering his lecture at Westminster Cathedral
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, in a lecture at Westminster Cathedral delivered on Thursday, 8th May 2008, called for improved dialogue between believers and non-believers to establish the shared values that sustain our plural society.
The Cardinal questioned the basis on which some prominent atheists attacked faith.
“I wanted this Cathedral to be a place for people to listen to matters pertaining to religion in the secular society in which we live here in Britain,” he said.
“I wanted religion to be, and to be seen to be, open to the questions of those who do not believe…I detect among many people a sense of loss, of not being in touch with living sources that can nourish them. They want to live by shared values that can sustain our society but do not know where to find them. They want to find a context that can give their lives a deep meaning, but, again, are unable to find it. There are unspoken aspirations in people’s lives that modern culture does not permit them to express.”
Expanding on the idea of spiritual homelessness amid material and technological wealth, the Cardinal said religion had a particular and important role to play in society.
“My hope and prayer is that we will all continue to foster the witness of faith in Britain today. In this way we help to create a culture in which God is honoured and worshipped and all women and men cherished, valued and supported from the beginning of their lives to their end”.
The Cardinal concluded his lecture with a reminder not to lose hope. The central message of the Gospels is God’s unlimited love for us all, learned through families, friends and the communion of all believers.
This dialogue needs to be based on mutual esteem, he said, grounded in humility and respect for the other, rather than a rejection of difference.He warned that our life together in Britain cannot be a God-free zone, with religion banished to the private sphere, both because of religion’s contribution to the common good but also to enable individuals’ search for truth and meaning.
The Cardinal questioned the basis on which some prominent atheists attacked faith.
In dismissing faith as, a priori, without reason they appear unable to cope with the notion of an intelligent, reflective Christian faith. Indeed, the Catholic Christian tradition is characterised by a close relationship between reasoned understanding and religious faith. “The interesting question about atheism is what is the theism that being denied? Have you ever met anyone who believes what Richard Dawkins does not believe in? I usually find that the God that is being rejected by such people is a God I don’t believe in either.”Doubt lies at the heart of what it is to be human and is shared by believers and non-believers alike, argued the Cardinal.
Thus the certainty of those attacking faith should not be met with a closed attitude by believers. They both need to recognise each other better, more accurately, more appreciatively and with deep esteem.
Pope Benedict wrote, when Fr Joseph Ratzinger, in 1968 that the doubt that exists in the believer could become the basis for an open dialogue with those who do not believe. “Both the believer and the non-believer share, each in his own way, doubt and belief, if they do not hide from themselves and from the truth of their being…Perhaps in precisely this way doubt, which saves both sides from being shut up in their own worlds, could become the avenue of communication.”The Cardinal was speaking, in a wide-ranging and personal lecture, at a packed Westminster Cathedral in the final week of his Faith and Life in Britain lecture series.
“I wanted this Cathedral to be a place for people to listen to matters pertaining to religion in the secular society in which we live here in Britain,” he said.
“I wanted religion to be, and to be seen to be, open to the questions of those who do not believe…I detect among many people a sense of loss, of not being in touch with living sources that can nourish them. They want to live by shared values that can sustain our society but do not know where to find them. They want to find a context that can give their lives a deep meaning, but, again, are unable to find it. There are unspoken aspirations in people’s lives that modern culture does not permit them to express.”
Expanding on the idea of spiritual homelessness amid material and technological wealth, the Cardinal said religion had a particular and important role to play in society.
“My hope and prayer is that we will all continue to foster the witness of faith in Britain today. In this way we help to create a culture in which God is honoured and worshipped and all women and men cherished, valued and supported from the beginning of their lives to their end”.
The Cardinal concluded his lecture with a reminder not to lose hope. The central message of the Gospels is God’s unlimited love for us all, learned through families, friends and the communion of all believers.
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