BOOK REVIEW
In God We Doubt
Confessions of a failed Atheist
by John Humphrys
Published by Hodder & Stoughton
HB £18.99 PB available May £7.99
This book is a very interesting and not too demanding a read. A book to be dipped into rather than read from cover to cover as there are many very interesting viewpoints from eminent people on why they believe there is or isn’t God.
Particularly memorable are people’s views on disasters like the Boxing Day tsunami. While that was terrible it got many people into Church again, because what else could they do? It also gave the unfaithful a good stick with which to beat believers – how could a loving God possibly allow these and other world tragedies to happen? The answers are clear and the Archbishop of Canterbury made a brilliant point. He said “Wouldn’t we feel something of a chill at the prospect of a God who deliberately plans a programme that involves a certain level of casualties?” Another string in the believer’s bow came from parents who had lost children through death. Parents like the Stoddarts, who lost their two daughters to a careless driver on the wrong side of the road after a night out at a club. In their agony they suddenly found God there for them.
My own faith was found at an agonising moment in my life as our little daughter lay dying. Jesus was there beside us and my faith was born in that moment which led me to believe that faith is indeed a gift. There are many stories of people who have lost children and who have found that death is absolutely not the end.
Non-believers say God is simply a comfort blanket (for the simple minded?). John Humphrys has the grace to recognise that deep faith is often a very simple faith and trust in God. People can believe without needing proof – indeed that is exactly what faith is about.
I hadn’t really expected to like this book, but I am full of admiration for such a fair insight into whether people have faith or not.
Rosie Findlater |
