I saw a quote on Twitter today and I think it’s by a guy named Gerry Spence.
I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.
This stands at the heart of the misunderstandings that are out there about faith. I do not think Newton or the other mostly faith-filled early scientists could ever have been accused of having minds closed by belief. Can belief not inspire wonder? It can, and it does. What is really closed-minded (Christopher Hitchens) is the idea that we must choose between wonder and faith, or, as Hitchens seems to say, intelligence and faith.
Of course there’s a chance that Spence is not closed to the possibility that faith can inspire wonder, but that doesn’t seem to be where he’s going with this. Even the notion that belief itself is what closes minds is suspect. There’s more holes in this than I have time to parse through right now, but I’ll get to it more later.
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I would suggest that Gerry Spence has confused belief with dogma.
Is there a slight perseptual visual shift required to experience true wonder. Is there a need for faith to to wonder? Is a faith without wonder even faith? How can one even seperate faith and wonder? It’s confounding. It makes me wonder and believe something is behind that statment.
Is faith without wonder even faith? That’s a good question, Nate. Worth thinking about. I associate wonder with life, and lack of wonder with deadness.