There’s quite an interesting post here about this article in the LA Times, in which the Times’ religion reporter William Lobdell describes finding and then losing his faith in the process of reporting on the subject. He was initially attracted to Catholicism:
Meanwhile, Roman Catholicism, with its low-key evangelism and deep ritual, increasingly appealed to me. I loved its long history and loving embrace of liberals and conservatives, immigrants and the established, the rich and poor.
Over time, however, issues such as the Catholic sex abuse scandal and associated cover-up, evangelical churches taking advantage of the false hope of ‘healing’ offered to the disabled and terminally ill, and the way in which some religious people treated unbelievers eroded Mr Lobdell’s faith:
“If Mormons associate with you, they think they will somehow become contaminated and lose their faith too,” Suzy Colver told me. “It’s almost as if people who leave the church don’t exist.”
His conclusion is that faith is a gift possessed by some and not by others, and that he lacks that gift. An alternative (or perhaps complimentary) interpretation is that either consciously or subconsciously he came to the conclusion that faith in a dogmatic system administered by human beings and run according to rules interpreted by human beings is invariably going to be subject to the inherent characteristics of human beings, rather than the divine. The examples he cites all speak of well understood human traits - greed, lust, dislike of criticism, dislike of outsiders - becoming manifest in situations where individuals with those traits have the opportunity to exploit others.
Some of the responses from religious blogs of various ilks, summarised here, are also interesting: they range from finding the loss of faith ‘understandable’, to questioning the motives of the newspaper for publishing it, to regarding it as ‘anti-Christian’ or ‘anti-religion’, to highlighting a perceived gulf between ‘progressives’ in (gay, drive-thru-abortion) Los Angeles and the Christian ‘heartland’ and arguing that a loss of faith was inevitable in the circumstances (with the implication that anyone with progressive views will never be able to reconcile themself with ‘faith’).
The church says the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church. - Magellan
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