Faith in Doubt How My Dog Made Me an Atheist and Atheism Made Me a Priest An Experiment in Faith

What happens when an atheist and a believer find themselves next door neighbours? What happens when religion finds itself in a culture of science and secularism? Could they hold hands? Could they fall in love?

Faith in Doubt claims that churches speak about faith and God only from within the world view of an ancient culture—as foreign to modern people as Latin. No wonder there is a precipitous decline in church attendance. Faith in Doubt proposes that churches start a conversation with secularism by learning to speak of faith and God from within the assumptions of modern secular culture. Faith in Doubt explains how.

Faith in Doubt follows John, a believer, and his neighbour Rosalind, an atheist professional scientist, through their budding romance as they undergo relationship conflicts paralleling their exploration of each other’s opposing views of religion. Can their relationship weather storms of break up, distrust, and deep pain at rejection? Will John and Rosalind—symbolizing faith and science—ever hold hands in a lasting, meaningful relationship?

Faith in Doubt grounds the discussion with accounts of real incidents in the author’s own life as a child and later as a priest in urban, rural, and First Nations contexts. He experienced disbelief and strains in important relationships—unexpectedly finding those challenges to be sources of new life and joy. Readers, whether believers or not, may discover similar experiences happening in their own lives.