Penn Says I'm an Atheist

Certainly the differences between atheism and agnosticism include some gray areas. But, in short, atheism is a disbelief in a deity, while agnosticism is the belief that knowing the existence of God cannot ultimately be known. I appreciate Penn's thoughts on the matter but I hold one disagreement with his definition of the line between having faith in God and being atheist.

Penn says if one could not kill one's child in response to a deity's call to do so, then said person is an atheist. We could argue against this stance on the basis of world views and culture. That is, Penn's hypothetical situation makes allusions to Abraham following through on YHWH's call for Isaac's sacrifice.

No doubt about it, that Abraham's faith was immeasurable, as scripture suggests. But concomitant to Abe's strong faith is the fact that child sacrifice wasn't unheard of in religions of the Ancient Near East. This culture makes the seemingly despicable practice of child sacrifice seem like a possible reality when called for by a deity.

Abraham's worldview aside, my intent here is to disagree with Penn. With his extreme example, Penn says the line between faith and atheism is at "absolutely no doubt." That is, the presence of any doubt (which might cause one to balk at a deity's child sacrifice mandate) is tantamount to atheism. This is not the nature of faith.

I am in the camp of having enough doubt in my mind, that I wouldn't act on a communication from my god, YHWH, to kill a child. See, what Penn doesn't understand about faith is that faith isn't solely what I believe. Faith is how I live. I live with expectancy and hope.

In Luke 7, a sinful woman washes Jesus' feet with her tears. She asks for nothing, but Jesus offers forgiveness. He says, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." What faith? I wonder what her "religious beliefs" were.

I don't have a faith that never doubts. I can't empirically prove the existence of God. But I have faith.