Son,

I hear people say things like, “Faith is the opposite of fear.” If one has faith, one will have no fear. To this I say, “Fear Faith!’ Question your faith! Challenge your faith! If your faith is true and just it will withstand any challenge – if it does not withstand challenge then it was probably not a healthy faith.

Why are so many people in the world, and particularly right wing fundamentalists, so afraid? What are they afraid of? Why are faithful people afraid of science? Why are faithful people afraid of a world economy? Why are faithful people afraid of people of other faiths? We live in a fast and complex world – a world that is difficult to understand. Unbridled faith offers some sort of explanation and eases our tension, our fear. But that does not make it correct or healthy.

When I said ‘right wing fundamentalists’ I did not qualify any particular faith – like Christianity, or Islam. If the reader inserted a particular faith in place of my words then I suggest they might want to challenge their faith.

Dad