Yes, we’re sort of a stubborn bunch. Anyway, I used the quote because it’s an obviously honest question in a world such as ours. But the faith of Jews and others is-or can be-anything but blind. It has to do with knowing God, a faith that comes in part from “seeking His face”, then increased as we actually follow His ways. The ideal that Christ gave the world, especially from the cross, inspired a major paradigm shift, which is still ongoing. From the beginning, by presenting a universe that is based on reason, order, purpose, and goodness- on love- an inspiration was set in place that influenced humans in a variety of ways: to volunteer countless hours and donate untold amounts of wealth to feed the poor, cloth the naked, care for orphans, build hospitals, to preserve and later develop learning, education, science, the arts, build schools, develop the university system, to pursue excellence in general, to love ones neighbor in a world where vanquishing him had been the more common order of the day; altruism had become an authentic human value.
And even humanistic social justice endeavors such as civil rights and feminists movements, legal protection for workers, etc have their roots in Christianity, even as these concerns developed gradually, over centuries- but we tend to miss these facts, often preferring to bite the hand that’s fed us instead. The gospel, whenever anyone genuinely followed it, gave reason and basis and support for accepting and serving the outcasts and downtrodden. Often it required mavericks, who later were named as saints, to challenge the established Church-leaders & laity alike- to recall the true meaning of the gospel; we tend to get caught up in our own day to day interests quite easily, or occasionally even begin to justify behavior that is totally inconsistent with the teachings of Christ. But either way we don’t give up the hope (a virtue which is more akin to “confidence”) that, foundational to the universe, is a basic goodness, existing beyond ourselves while also existing within us, even if buried, that makes it all worthwhile in the end.
Mother Maria of Paris was a twice-divorced woman who gave birth to an illegitimate child and later became a nun. Always radical, she continued to eschew convention and had no sympathy for Christians unwilling to act, and during the Nazi occupation of Paris where she had already accepted anyone and everyone in need into her house, she began to help Jews by providing false documentation to prevent their arrest. She, herself, was finally arrested for this, a risk she was willing to take while knowing she’d probably end up caught. As with others who entered her life she nurtured her fellow prisoners- and ended up dying in a gas chamber, never giving up those higher ideals which inspired and compelled her to love and serve God-and neighbor.
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