And no philosophy, sadly, has all the answers. No matter how assured we may be about certain aspects of our belief,

...And no philosophy, sadly, has all the answers. No matter how assured
we may be about certain aspects of our belief, there are always painful
inconsistencies, exceptions, and contradictions. This is true in
religion as it is in politics, and is self-evident to all except
fanatics and the naive. As for the fanatics, whose number is legion in
our own time, we might be advised to leave them to heaven. They will
not, unfortunately, do us the same courtesy. They attack us and each
other, and whatever their protestations to peaceful intent, the bloody
record of history makes clear that they are easily disposed to restore
to the sword. My own belief in God, then, is just that -- a matter of
belief, not knowledge. My respect for Jesus Christ arises from the fact
that He seems to have been the most virtuous inhabitant of Planet Earth.
But even well-educated Christians are frustrated in their thirst for
certainty about the beloved figure of Jesus because of the undeniable
ambiguity of the scriptural record. Such ambiguity is not apparent to
children or fanatics, but every recognized Bible scholar is perfectly
aware of it. Some Christians, alas, resort to formal lying to obscure
such reality.
-- Steve Allen, comedian, from an essay in the book
-- "The Courage of Conviction", edited by Philip Berman