The dictionary first defines faith as “the complete trust or confidence in someone or something” and “a belief in religious doctrine” second. Madeline draws this same distinction—that faith isn’t based on religion. Knowing this, what role does religion play in the book? What is a Humanist? What does the science of psychology tell us about the human’s desire to believe in something greater than themselves? And why do Elizabeth, Calvin, and Wakely all believe that personal responsibility—faith in one’s self—is more important?
As a humanist, I believe that humans can live productive rewarding and giving lives because they live by their values not because of fear of punishment or imposed rules. I believe in good, not god and respect the right of others to live their lives with religious beliefs. In our culture if you don’t belong to a religion or a certain religion many people automatically think you cannot be a “good” person and are afraid of you and shun you. This is so disrespectful and leads to fear, hatred, wars - fear of the other. I believe that I am responsible for my behavior and solving my own problems, not in supernatural beings taking care of me.
The way some of her audience responded to Elizabeth’s saying she didn’t have religious beliefs was tragic. It didn’t change who she was, only changed other people’s perceptions of her. Their fear of her was based on nothing concrete and had major effects on her life.
Elizabeth, Calvin and Wakely believe that faith in oneself is more important in than faith in something greater because of life experiences. Elizabeth had a number of life experiences before meeting Calvin that heavily influenced her belief about faith, including a father who did little build spiritual faith in his family and community. I was surprised how much religion was woven into this story. Elizabeth believed that having faith in something you can’t see, touch, explain or change was easier than having faith in someone you can’t see and trust. Elizabeth’s analogy of religion’s acts of God to electroshock therapy was interesting and as was her belief that religion lets people off the hook. At the same time, she expressed accountability when she said that people were responsible for the badness in the world.