It rankles to hear someone say there is a right way to believe. My term in an old journal was “right-angled faith.” I wanted to write a book about how this is wrong. A right way, of course, implies a wrong way, and when I get into a mindset that says I’m right in my way, in my methods, I’m saying I have it all figured out, while others, specifically you who think differently from me, are going nowhere.

In my understanding as a child of my culture, right equals worthy. It means perfection, flawlessness. And therefore to consider oneself right is a false idea, because no one can be found who is flawless. Most people don’t try to come off that way anymore. Instead, we make a point of saying everybody lies; everyone screws up. So to say there is a right way to believe is actually to believe something that is false. It’s to be deceived, by self or another person or group.

I like that people want honesty about all of us in our world today. I’m grateful for this genuine idea that we’re on level ground. This truth has come at great cost – there were Hitler and Pol Pot and Nixon and many more destroyers of illusion.

Unflinchingly now we believe there is no moral perfection among us. And so it seems to follow that there is no right or wrong way to believe. All I want to mention here is, sure, some details regarding believing – like whether or not I kneel or pray or study a religious book or fast or go someplace regularly to offer honor and service – don’t matter in the overall picture of what’s true.

My question is, does the object of my belief matter? Does anyone think so anymore? Or does everyone who’s sane urge everyone else, the way the preacher, Book, urged Captain Mal in the movie Serenity, to just believe? Don’t worry about what you’re believing, he said with his dying breath, just believe.

The same thought was put forth by the animated film, Kung Fu Panda. It seems a lot of screenwriters agree that believing by any means in anything is the real deal. Just flex those faith muscles; it’ll all work out.

But I can’t go that far. I think the object of my believing makes a difference, because Hitler believed in ideas that weren’t true. If he had saluted his straight-marching troops and shouted Heil! and all that as a way to gather everyone to go out and save harbor seals, no one would have gone to war with him (or at least it makes sense they shouldn’t have).

I plan to say more about this object stuff. Feel free to let me know if it makes you object.