Belief or Nonbelief? by Umberto Eco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This short book follows the formula of a dialogue between the now secular (once Catholic) Umberto Eco and the Catholic Cardinal Carlo Martini. It it, they ask and answer each other questions dealing with believers and non-believers. The two gentlemen are gentlemen, ever clear, honest and respectful in how they speak to one another and express their views.
One of the greatest flaws people often have in dialogue with others of differing values is that they don’t have a framework in which to approach another in a way that is both respectful and satisfies curiosity. What these two have done is find a way to do so, exactly that… but not in a way that asks mundane questions, but to dive deeply into the differences between them such as, “what framework do non-believers have to justify ethics?” and “what is the role of women in Catholicism?”
In their honesty they are able to reach into the deepest recesses of what makes us all human, to find common ground that despite the (non)religiosity of many of us, we do have things to talk about: to learn from each other and come to understanding that we are among one another.
Difference doesn’t need to be destroyed. In fact, it should be cherished, as each of us explore our lives in our own way, and come hopefully, through honesty and bravery, to better understandings about who we are and how we should be.
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