The Age of Skepticism – Sunday, March 16, 1980
Scholars have come to classify the different periods of mankind’s history according to the most prominent human urges of the time. The era which produced the treasures of Greek literature and philosophy is now known as the Golden Age of Thought. That epoch during the 17th and 18th centuries when explorers and scientists uncovered new facts about our world is called the Age of Discovery. More recently, the Age of Technology has made the machine our servant.
We might wonder what our own day will be called by future historians. Perhaps with the remarkable interplanetary travel which has already taken place, it will be called the Age of Exploration. The Age of Global Strife might fit this era of wars and conflict.
Or possibly our own period will come to be known as the Age of Skepticism. For at no other time has man’s faith in God and humanity faced such an organized challenge to its survival.
Of course, there have always been doubters; but present-day skeptics would deny the right to believe to others, while reserving the right to doubt for themselves. Under the guise of freedom of religion and separation of church and state, many public expressions of religious sentiment are being threatened. Along with the elimination of prayers in the schools, there is a movement to ban the singing of Christmas carols in public places, and pressure to remove “In God We Trust” from the American dollar.
We remind those who would legislate against the rights of individuals to believe in public as they do in private, that freedom of religion implies not only the freedom to doubt, but also the liberty to believe; that separation of church and state does not mean the public elimination of all religion except the worship of no religion; that to believe is no less sacred a right than to doubt; and to favor the one while repressing the other is an affront to the freedom of all.
We claim for everyone the right to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience; let all worship how, where or what they may.1
Honest doubt is the beginning of wisdom; no wise person would silence its voice. But as Albert Schweitzer observed, “The city of truth cannot be built upon the swampy ground of skepticism.”2
The hope of eternal life, the will to believe, the longing to communicate with the divine may these become the prominent urges of our age.
1 Pearl of Great Price, “Articles of Faith” No.11.
2 Albert Schweitzer, “Out of My Life and Thought” The Great Quotations, Pocket Books. 1960. p. 864.
“The Spoken Word” heard over KSL and CBS from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 16, 1980 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, Eastern Time Copyright 1980 Bonneville Productions
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March 16, 1980
Broadcast Number 2,639