Washington National Cathedral

The Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith

The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, host

Cathedral Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III and renowned sociologist Peter Berger explore the complex relationship among faith, doubt, fundamentalism, and secularism.

“What is so great about doubt?” Lloyd asks early in the discussion.

“Faith, I think by definition, means that we don’t know,” Berger replies. “It’s not certain. We have faith, but we don’t know. . . . There’s a balance between doubt and faith.” Doubt has usefulness in faith communities and in civic life. In a society, skepticism is politically and morally healthy, Berger says—better than being too easily swayed.

Berger asserts that modernity produced the important phenomena of relativism and fundamentalism. Both are “bad things,” in Berger’s view. Relativism is a rudderless state that can appeal only to tolerance of anything and everything, including, say, cannibalism. Moral consensus is impossible. Fundamentalism, on the other hand, “makes impossible the application of reason,” Berger asserts; it can divide societies into little enclaves or even bring about civil war.

Although modernity was expected gradually to wipe out religion, this has not happened in most places. “Instead, what modernity does is pluralize,” Berger summarizes. One cannot take one’s own worldview for granted, but must reflect on other things, other forces and viewpoints. In an urban neighborhood packed with houses of worship (Berger calls Northwest Washington, D.C., “an orgy of pluralism”), the congregations talk with one another, if only about parking problems. Each congregation must become aware of the others. Believers gradually learn that “other people have other ways of life,” Berger points out.

In a pluralistic world, how can a religious person express beliefs without offending others? Berger recommends open-mindedness, a willingness to listen and even to be somewhat changed by learning about other points of view.

Berger discusses the “plausibility structure,” the social context in which certain beliefs or values are plausible. Faith communities provide this needed type of structure; some, but not all, permit adherents to question the community’s own teachings.

Democracy, in Berger’s view, requires compromise, and compromise can arise from a discussion of doubts. He cites a recent attempt to define, via a sort of philosophical triage, European values that can accommodate newly introduced religious beliefs and cultural practices. European societies must have certain absolutes (against terrorism, “honor killings,” and the genital mutilation of young girls, for example). Beyond these absolutes, these societies should seriously consider allowing people of different faiths time to pray during the workday, or to wear religious garb. In a more gray area is the question of whether, in western European countries, Muslim girls can be prevented from playing sports with boys.

About Peter Berger

Peter Berger is an internationally renowned sociologist and faculty member at Boston University, where in 1985 he founded its Institute of Culture, Religion, and World Affairs. He is the author of many books, among them The Social Construction of Reality, The Homeless Mind, and Questions of Faith. His latest book is In Praise of Doubt: How to Have Convictions Without Becoming a Fanatic.