Evangelical Agnostic

Sometimes I listen to this streaming radio station by the name of RadioIO, and specifically the acoustic section. It's cool because they play a bunch of music I don't hear anywhere else, and it's all acoustic, which is pretty rare. It's not so cool because they play these bizarre ads that say things like, "The odds of your child being in a Broadway show: 1 in 3400. The odds of your child developing autism: 1 in 167", and then go on to talk about autism awareness, or something. I always get so freaked out by the first part of the ad that I never hear what I'm supposed to do about the situation. They have other fun ones about the dangers of mercury poisoning, and how last year Americans spent more than they saved for the first time since the Great Depression; you know, topics that don't quite make it into the NBC advertising slots. The radio station offers commercial free programming for a fee, so I have my suspicions that the ads are designed to both convey information, and drive you toward paying to get rid of them. I'm seriously considering just paying the money.

The other day I heard a song on this station that I think was titled "Happy New Year", by Todd Snider. It was kind of a clever little, tongue-in-cheek commentary on the singer's avid agnosticism, which he labeled as evangelical agnosticism, which in itself is a humorous idea. But, one part of the song struck me as particularly telling, and I think it was the evangelical part. The lyrics are, "i believe this is where i wanna stick to what i know, which is nothing you know, nothing for sure". This is an important statement because it (as music and poetry often do) expresses the feelings of the current culture and age, and there's a good reason for these feelings. Saying something like this makes everyone feel all warm and fuzzy, like they just got an answer correct in front of the class. It makes them feel like that because it implies that there is no right answer, so whatever they say is fine. So now we've got all kinds of "tolerance" floating around us like a soothing song. Above all, I believe humans are driven by a desire to feel they're okay, and the sentiment that we can't really know anything for sure, so whatever anyone believes as their truth is just that, goes a long way in providing the security for which people are looking.

But, are we sure we can't know anything for sure? If so, then we are sure of at least one thing, which means that it is possible to know something for sure. Of course if we aren't sure we can't know anything for sure, then it is again possible that we might know something for sure. My point here is that while statements like the one above are comforting in their apparent humility and inclusion, they are actually empty and a little silly at their foundation. Our culture wants to keep having conversations about how there really is no absolute right, or truth, when that statement itself is an absolute. So, I propose we abandon the idea that we can't discover the truth and just have an honest conversation about what we believe and why. Maybe then everyone will be a little more evangelic and we can actually have some decent discussions.