Friday, January 17, 2014

Eleanor McCullen--A Lover? Of what?

Eleanor McCullen has made quite a name for herself. Her little journey to the Supreme Court has certainly stirred emotions across the land.

To watch her television interviews on the day of the oral arguments makes one wonder about the degree of certainty with which she sails forth declaiming "love" several times in the broadcast clip. How can she be so certain that God is on her side in this discussion?

Richard Rodriguez, in Darling, writes: The blasphemy that attaches to monotheism is the blasphemy of certainty. If God is on our side, we must be right. We are right because we believe in god. We must defend God against the godless.” p 46.

"The blasphemy of certainty" is quite a pregnant phrase. It encapsulates the usually unspoken question, "How do we know what God wants? Scripture? Are we sure about that? We are implying that God has never again  "spoken" to believers since the Bible has been closed to change, that words to Muhammed were the last uttered in revelation, that the Torah has existed for three thousand years as the ultimate Word. 

How do we know there has not been revelation since? Can God not add to what has been written? Are we so sure of the silence--that it has been and will forevermore be as it was hundreds of years ago? 

Is is not blasphemous to proclaim that the Divinity has decided enough has been revealed? How does one know the mind of God? 

If it is not blasphemy then it certainly is arrogance.

"Love," Ms McCullen? How can you be so certain?