Posted on 06/20/2012 5:39:30 AM PDT by Petrosius
Denver, Colo., Jun 20, 2012 / 04:17 am (CNA/EWTN News.- Blogger Leah Libresco, known for writing about ethics and religion from her perspective as an atheist, announced June 18 that she now believes in God and intends to enter the Catholic Church.
“For several years, a lot of my friends have been telling me I had an inconsistent and unsustainable philosophy,” the Washington, D.C.-based author of the “Unequally Yoked” blog wrote in a post announcing her intention to convert.
The 22-year-old Yale graduate says she came to believe “that the Moral Law wasn’t just a Platonic truth, abstract and distant. It turns out I actually believed it was some kind of Person, as well as Truth. And there was one religion that seemed like the most promising way to reach back to that living Truth.”
“When I was talking to a post-modernist friend afterwards,” Libresco said to CNA on June 19, “I told him, 'I guess you were right. (The concept of) “Truth” was a gateway drug.'”
“He replied, not very much in jest: 'Told you so.'”
In recent years, the writer and researcher had – despite her atheism – developed an interest in Christian accounts of morality, developed by authors like C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and Alasdair MacIntyre. Her blog, “Unequally Yoked,” chronicled her engagement with Christian theological claims.
Raised in a non-religious household, Libresco explained in a biographical statement that she “met smart Christians for the first time” during college. She was “was ready to cross-examine them” from her perspective as an atheist, but found there were “some big gaps in my defense of my own positions.”
“I realized I didn’t have a clear enough idea of what Christianity entailed to be able to imagine a world where it was true. I felt embarrassed and told my friends to take their best shot at convincing me.”
Through her blog, the atheist thinker looked to test her arguments against belief, seeking out “people to ask me tough questions and force me to burn off the dross in my philosophy.”
The odyssey was personal as well as philosophical, involving a romantic relationship with “one of these smart Christians.”
“I talked with deacons, priests, and Dominicans and attended RCIA classes – until I got kicked out,” she wrote in the biographical statement, composed before her conversion.
“Neither my boyfriend or I looked likely to switch teams in the near future, and, after two years of dating, we were at the point where a relationship that was incompatible with marriage seemed foolish, so, regretfully, we had to split up.”
But she continued “seriously exploring Christian claims,” in light of her own belief in philosophical concepts including objective morality. Her blog featured a “test” in which atheists and Christians swapped roles, composing answers to questions from the perspective of the opposing worldview.
Libresco's atheism finally ended after a recent Yale alumni debate, where a friend “prodded me on where I thought moral law came from in my metaphysics.”
“I talked about morality as though it were some kind of Platonic form, remote from the plane that humans existed on. He wanted to know where the connection was.”
Pressed to define the connection between humanity and the moral order, Libresco came up short: “I don’t know. I’ve got nothing.” Then she remarked: “I guess Morality just loves me or something.”
In Monday's blog entry, the “Unequally Yoked” author said her writings, hosted by the Patheos website, would move from the service's “atheist channel” to its “Catholic channel.”
Libresco said she had been using the Church's Liturgy of the Hours, as well as the ancient “Breastplate of Saint Patrick,” for most of her “prayer attempts.” Despite lingering “confusion” about some Catholic teachings, Libresco has begun RCIA classes at a Washington, D.C. parish.
The former atheist summed up her feelings about her announcement with a quotation from Tom Stoppard's play “Arcadia”: “It’s the best possible time to be alive, when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong.”
Google St. Patrick’s Breastplate. Christ is in every line.
Anne Rice, Interview with a Vampire, check out her story or faith. Very interesting journey she had.
“Anne Rice...”
She later renounced.
Seems Christianity wasn’t gay-friendly enough for her.
The atheists are already going nuts and attacking her. She was well liked in the atheist blogosphere prior.
Doesnt RCIA always begin in the fall,culminating with the Easter Vigil?
She finally discovered she was too intelligent to be an atheist.
"The 22-year-old Yale graduate says she came to believe “that the Moral Law wasn’t just a Platonic truth, abstract and distant. It turns out I actually believed it was some kind of Person, as well as Truth. And there was one religion that seemed like the most promising way to reach back to that living Truth.”
Once you have arrived at the conviction that the Truth is a person, you are well on your way. That comes from the imprint of the Creator on her heart. Plenty of people have come to Christ with less understanding.
Interesting. I didn’t know that so I did a bit of research myself and it appears that the organized church is what she left. Here is and exert from her direct quote: “I remain committed to Christ”. That is the bottom line for a believer.
She had some odd ideas, based on the one book of hers I read, regarding the ability for some souls to reincarnate.
This is true, but remember, if we are to come to Christ we must first believe He exists. For someone coming from a "there is no God" perspective she has already made the hardest leap of faith. She now believes "there is a God"
So the next question she will inevitably ask (if she has not asked it already) is "What does God want from me (or me to do)?"
She'll get there.
The church has plenty of pretenders in it today... its one thing to be welcoming, its another to be naive. Of course maybe there's more to this story but I don't think the Catholic New Agency would edit out a testimony in Christ's name.
Awesome....hope she gets good guidance on the journey.
When she is accepted into the Church she must make a profession of faith based on the Nicene Creed which has the following words:
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,That is good enough for me and should be good enough for you.
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
Approval from you or I is unnecessary.
But there are a couple of unrepentant lesbians living around the corner from me who are ordained Lutheran ministers, I imagined they also took the Nicene Creed. Should that be 'good enough' for me as well?
Awesome!!!
Pathetic.
I'm a fallen Catholic and the worst hypocritical Christian who's only hope is that we have a forgiving God. But the snarky little comments reveal more about those making the comments than the girl who converted.
If they were referring to me perhaps you can describe what about me you took away from my comments?
Approval from you or I is unnecessary; followed directly by an example of which there is clear disapproval. Fascinating.
Somethings missing from this woman’s testimony. Anyway I hope she’s sincere.
zzzzzzzzz
I second both points.
You must have missed A.N. Wilson and Dr. Antony Flew (google that). My own favorite of several intellectual nonbelieverswho made it all the way through the door into the Household of Faith is my friend at the University of Leeds (UK) who was an atheist philosopher and ethicist for many decades, entering the Catholic Church after long, long reflection and great joy in his late 60's. If you want to communicate with him, let me know and I will get his permission.
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