Spirituality and critical thinking

Sir, – In her attempts to understand why belief in God continues to decline, Breda O’Brien explores the possibility that perceptions of the church in light of recent scandals did not align with the facts (“Family is the most important factor in having a belief in God”, Opinion & Analysis, April 8th). As a non-believer I would suggest that another aspect might be worth exploring, also in a way related to facts versus perceptions.

Might it be that as we became a more open and educated society, we began to ask questions about our existence and found religion full of mysteries and ambiguity, while science provided answers based on the more solid ground of empirical evidence?

The expansion of critical thinking allows us to move beyond mysteries and explore our reality. Spirituality can have an important part to play in how individuals process this information, but it’s not necessary that this is done within the constraints of religious dogma, which for centuries was our only outlet.

To give people credit, maybe it is not misperceptions that are driving these statistics but clarity. – Yours, etc,