Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
The Pew Research Center recently released a study about Americans’ view of God, with results that might surprise you. Among Christians, Catholics trailed the pack in belief in God “as described in the Bible” at just 69 percent (mainline Protestants followed at 72 percent), and somehow, I don’t think that figure had much to do with a richer belief that encompasses Sacred Tradition. By even wider margins, Catholics were less likely to believe God or a “higher power” is all-loving or all-knowing.
Catholics also were the least likely to say they talk to God, or that God speaks directly to them. At least one noted theologian told America magazine that was a good thing, because the Church teaches us to discern His direction through scripture, teachings, and the guidance of others… a community, if you will.
What do you think? I suspect there’s some linkage there. Community in the form of the men and women religious and wise laypeople, including Cursillo friends and the women in my parish’s Bible study group, has challenged my behaviors and views in innumerable ways. I have grown in wisdom and love thanks to them. My interior faith life has been deepened by a banquet of writers, living and dead, “traditional” and “progressive,” Catholic and non-Catholic. And yet, at the times I have been most tortured by decisions, including some that might seem small to you (such as what to do about a ridiculous parking situation) but were taking up way too much space in my soul, yes, God has spoken to me. And His words, even though they might have been similar to my own thoughts or a friend’s counsel, immediately stilled my anxieties as no other could.
When it comes to Godtalk, I don’t think I’m special. In John 15, Jesus encourages us to ask for what we want. In Acts 9, Barnabas defends Paul to the skeptics, testifying the Lord has spoken to Paul. If the Lord could find a way to speak to a persecutor of Christians, why do we think He would not speak to believers struggling to grow closer to Him? After all, He’s asked us to do so… and the result just might make us more willing to celebrate his omnipotence.
