Nature's God: The Common Basis of Religions
By Raymond Fontaine, Ph.D. - June 2006
E-mail no. 39: A Theologian Proposes a Colloquy with Me
Dear Raymond,
I have just finished reading your beautiful book: My Life with God. I found you and your book by Internet. I thank you for your honest, wise and full of compassion story. I'm impressed by you and the way you are and think. Thank you.
Before making a request, let me introduce myself. I was born in Poland on May 31,1963. Then in 1983, I entered the Benedictine monastery in Krakow. In 1994, I taught theology in different Pontifical universities in Rome and elsewhere. In 2004, I left the Benedictine order and also the priesthood. Since then I have worked for a publishing house in Krakow writing and translating books while living in Italy.
At present I'm working on a book/study about people who left the Church. Your testimony on this subject is important for me. Do you have any idea that should be discussed? I'd be glad to have an exchange of thoughts with you.
Anyway: thank you for your book, for your story, for your life. I wish you all the best.
E-mail no. 40: Let's Discuss Nature's God.
Thank you for your kind words about my biography. Thank you also for telling me that, after being a monk and a priest for years, you finally left these two professions. I too abandoned both in 1967.
Reading my book, you also learned that I stopped believing in the teaching authority of the Church and all its dogmas. I broke loose of the Church. Since you did not mention leaving the Church, I assume that you still believe in its magisterium. If that is so, I will not try to dissuade you from your allegiance to its teaching. In our correspondence I will never argue with you. We still have a strong bond keeping us together- the Creator of Nature.
In his Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, the late Pope John Paul 2 declared the doctrine of Nature's origin. He mentions God as revealed in nature in the following sentences. "Starting from the world's order and beauty, humans can come to a knowledge of God as the origin of the universe...Man's faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God...The Church holds and teaches that God, the first principle of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason."
In these three sentences, the Pope did not refer to God as the Supreme Intelligence responsible for nature. This is a more recent appellation of nature's God by many modern scientists. According to them, humans can observe, through their senses and microscopes, physical designs, like the DNA, that presuppose a Designer.
That is exactly what my reason concludes from designs in nature. They point to a supreme Intelligent Agent. I assume that you too accept the opinion of the late Pope John Paul 2 and of the modern scientists supporting the theory of Intelligent Design.
If human reason can conclude that nature's designs presuppose Supreme Intelligence, I feel certain that the intelligent heads of various religious sects may have reached the same conclusion. All could agree with the Pope's statement about the Creator of nature.
I cannot contact all these important persons directly. I cannot remind them that we share a common origin from nature as fashioned by God. If that is so, it should be possible for the human race to live in peace with one another. We should be able to help rather than harm one another.
The only way I have to enlighten such people is through the Internet which reaches people worldwide. Already I have shared my ideas with people abroad. Millions more need help. How about your giving them a hand. I feel that you could accomplish a lot through a website of your own. Best wishes in your endeavors.
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