Namiti and Nkangi, faith and reason don’t conflict
Jan 24, 2006
SIR — The discussion between Mayanja-Nkangi and Musaazi Namiti conducted in various letters on the subject of God, is so stuck in the mud of misunderstanding that it needs unsticking.
SIR — The discussion between Mayanja-Nkangi and Musaazi Namiti conducted in various letters on the subject of God, is so stuck in the mud of misunderstanding that it needs unsticking.
Namiti and Mayanja seem to start well, but soon go off course.
Namiti champions atheism, and goes on to ironically ridicule Nkangi in the Sunday Vision in his letter entitled “Nkangi is amazing and too amusing†by presuming to teach him: “When atheists say that no amount of evidence can make them believe God exists, they are talking about irrefutable proof, which religion has failed to provideâ€. He implies that faith and reason conflict, suggesting so much the worse for faith.
Nkangi opposes Namiti, by defending theism, the acceptance of a transcendent and personal God, who not only created but also preserves and governs the world, and the evidence for whose existence is creation and man created in God’s own likeness.
He implies that faith and reason conflict — also suggesting so much the worse for reason. What both do not know is that they misrepresent, respectively the relationship between faith and reason by making them to be antagonistic, which they are not.
In fact, when the nature and implications of faith and reason are properly understood they neither confirm nor conflict. In Christian theology, faith leads to reason and ultimately supports it to lead the way. So faith and reason simply confirm and enhance each other.
Thus Namiti’s attacks on religion only expose his ignorance about the subject. By describing religion as being “faith that has irrational belief without evidence†he invents a language foreign to theology.
There is no ‘irrational belief’ or uncritical faith in modern Christian theology. From the earliest days of Christians reflecting on what they believe, philosophy has so permeated Christian thought that ‘critical belief’ is the grammar of theology.
The Rev Canon Dr. John Magumba Manchester, UK
Namiti and Mayanja seem to start well, but soon go off course.
Namiti champions atheism, and goes on to ironically ridicule Nkangi in the Sunday Vision in his letter entitled “Nkangi is amazing and too amusing†by presuming to teach him: “When atheists say that no amount of evidence can make them believe God exists, they are talking about irrefutable proof, which religion has failed to provideâ€. He implies that faith and reason conflict, suggesting so much the worse for faith.
Nkangi opposes Namiti, by defending theism, the acceptance of a transcendent and personal God, who not only created but also preserves and governs the world, and the evidence for whose existence is creation and man created in God’s own likeness.
He implies that faith and reason conflict — also suggesting so much the worse for reason. What both do not know is that they misrepresent, respectively the relationship between faith and reason by making them to be antagonistic, which they are not.
In fact, when the nature and implications of faith and reason are properly understood they neither confirm nor conflict. In Christian theology, faith leads to reason and ultimately supports it to lead the way. So faith and reason simply confirm and enhance each other.
Thus Namiti’s attacks on religion only expose his ignorance about the subject. By describing religion as being “faith that has irrational belief without evidence†he invents a language foreign to theology.
There is no ‘irrational belief’ or uncritical faith in modern Christian theology. From the earliest days of Christians reflecting on what they believe, philosophy has so permeated Christian thought that ‘critical belief’ is the grammar of theology.
The Rev Canon Dr. John Magumba Manchester, UK