[Louis Foxwell]

You seem to be railing against a branch of religion that supplants reason with blind belief. Not all, indeed, not many Christian believers have fallen into that trap. There are, to be sure, some cult priests and preachers who demand allegiance to their peculiar twist on the Bible.
I raise the issue of experience of God because it alone illuminates Biblical authority. An atheist can learn nothing of the truths of the Bible.
What you call sacred mystery is, perhaps, a portal into a life of spirituality. Certainly the mysterium tremendum is the rock that grounds one who is reborn into a personal knowledge of God. It is this experience of Ultimate Reality that further, illuminates all investigation of the world. Scientists may not remain aloof from the necessity of acknowledging their debt to their personal weltaunschung. We all live in a world of our own making. Some are fortunate enough to recognize that a relationship with reality is to be desired above the earthly riches of solipsism.

[spatso]

But the problem is not the people who do honorable work, it is not even people who follow blind belief. My difficulty is with those who presume to speak for the Lord. Specifically, when they use their beliefs to try and undermine the Wisdom journey of the Holy Spirit. Once, I thought I knew everything I needed to know about religion and belief. Over time, I have come to understand less and less. Now I am happy to be part of the journey. The kids today are smart as heck. When people of faith engage science in a vanity debate it bothers me that they do not understand the damage they are doing to the curious minds of our children.

It has been years since I looked at the wild man from north. I remember my professor called him the Bible's straight talker. If I remember he railed against the ruling class for the injustices imposed on the poor. My handwritten Bible notes suggests that when Amos was really fired up he usually would say the same thing twice for emphasis.

2:6
(a) because they have sold the virtuous man for silver
(b) and the poor man for a pair of sandals
(a) because they trample on the heads or ordinary people
(b) and push the poor out of their path....

2:13
See then how am going to crush you into the ground.