Ignorance is Strength

"Ignorance is strength" may be

The most powerful line Orwell wrote. 

I've certainly seen it play out in my own religious life. 

The people who have no idea about textual criticism,

Source theories, and issues with translation

Are some of the happiest Christians I know

With a faith that seems strong enough to move mountains. 

So long as everything continues to work out the way they want, 

They drift through life in blissful ignorance

Convinced that God's will for us in the world

Is nothing but a simple lists of dos and dont's

That are as plain as the nose on your face. 

I've seen the strength of beliefs built on fear and hate

Rather than knowledge or experience. 

People are filled with a terrifying strength

When given an enemy to hate and a foe to conquer. 

Any casualties caught in the friendly fire of the "culture war"

Can be chalked up to a lack of faith 

Or the dreaded backslide into oblivion

Where the only "real" Christians 

Are the ones who think and talk just like you. 

Wisdom is painful, 

And so often it leaves us feeling so goddamned weak. 

We endure the heartache and suffering 

Of a faith that's practical, grounded in reality,

And our uncertainties and doubts 

Make us look so much more fragile 

Than the people standing on the rock

of certainty and moral superiority.

But, when the storms come, where do you put your trust?

In the battered shelter you know can endure 

Because it has endured,

Or in the bright and shiny whitewashed tomb

Where the only defense is to keep the water out

By any means necessary?