A Philosophical Talk in the Dentist's Chair

As an author and a former newsman I'm have become quite adept at picking up ideas for writing from all over the place. Ideas that will spurn more creativity can be found anywhere including the dentist's chair. My dental hygenist (Jessica) and I got into the most fascinating conversation about faith and spirituality this morning. I told her I was undecided on the God question after she mentioned how important church and family was to her. I related to her that I was uncertain but was jealous of people who had faith and were certain they were going to heaven. My wife Debbie says she is certain she is going to heaven and Jessica agreed that she is certain too. She says it is such a relief and a feeling of peace to have that certainty that there is something beyond eartly things. I told her that I struggle with my faith. She also told me how she sees the hope and love of God through her family, her four beautiful children as she calls them, and her adoring husband.

Meeting people like Jessica makes me hestitate at criticizing the logic of religion too harshly, yet I know deep inside that faulty logic must be challenged. She told me about her children having the correct spiritual foundation to be able to negotiate life's unexpected twists and turns. I countered by saying that critical thinking and free thinking is important, that children must be taught to be responsible in a variety of situations so they can make the right choices when parents are not around. She talked about her nine year-old daughter and I talked about my oldest son(who is 13). We both agreed that they should be able to make the right choices when parents are not around and that a solid foundation should be laid for their growth. We differ on how this is done. To her it is the Catholic Church and to me, it's pure critical thinking, compassion, reason and responsibility. In an uncanny way Jessica concluded our philosophical talk by saying that there are many paths to righteousness. I couldn't have said it better myself.


One final thought:
On the radio I heard about Tony Blair's new foundation. The foundation is reaching with great effort to bring people of faith together to talk about real issues that affect real people. I think this is a step in the right direction. (Blair is the former Prime Minister of Great Britain.)

The goals of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation are:
to promote respect and understanding between the major religions;
to make the case for faith as a force for good; and
to encourage inter-faith initiatives to tackle global poverty and conflict.

Announcing the launch of the Faith Foundation Tony Blair said: "Religious faith will be of the same significance to the 21st Century as political ideology was to the 20th Century. In an era of globalisation, there is nothing more important than getting people of different faiths and cultures to understand each other better and live in peace and mutual respect; and to give faith itself its proper place in the future."
Tony Blair has argued that faith has to be rescued from those who would use it to divide and those determined to write it off as an irrelevance. By stressing the values of respect, justice and compassion which the great religions hold in common, he believes faith can help unite the World and shape its direction for the better.
The Tony Blair Faith Foundation is a response to these opportunities and challenges. It will use the power of modern communications to step up efforts to educate, inform and develop understanding about the different faiths and between them. At the same time, the Foundation will use its profile and resources to help mobilise people of faith to work together in concrete action to build a fairer and better world.
In the first three years of the Foundation, priority will be given to encouraging inter-faith initiatives to tackle global poverty and to improve understanding of the great religions through education at every level.