This statement, which has been altered in various ways and attributed to writers other than Poe, is nonetheless good advice if it means that one should not casually accept things for which there is no evidence.
If anything, this caution applies more than ever in this age of “Photoshopped" images, digital animation, and posts that litter social-media sites.
I saw an example the other day when a member of my high school class posted on Facebook an image of Pope Francis accompanied by the following statement, attributed to him:
“It is not necessary to believe in God to be a good person. In a way, the traditional notion of God is outdated. One can be spiritual but not religious. It is not necessary to go to church and give money — for many, nature can be a church. Some of the best people in history do not believe in God, while some of the worst deeds were done in His name."
“Oh,’’ gushed another classmate, who now lives in the Midwest, “I love this man. He’s talking about me."
I don’t know if she meant that she’s an atheist—which I doubt, that she doesn’t go to church, or that she finds God in nature.
Regardless of what she meant, she was responding to a statement that Pope Francis did not make and, for the most part, would not make.
The graphic, which has been circulating in the digital world for some time, is one example of a problem that has accompanied this papacy almost from the first day—a compulsion on the part of some to hear the pope as fulfilling their wishful thinking.
To be sure, Pope Francis has given us a fresh perspective on topics such as atheism.
He has spoken of our obligation to respect the intellectual integrity of people, including atheists, who don’t agree with us. He has also reiterated—perhaps in plainer language than we are used to—the Church’s consistent teaching that, as Father Thomas Rosica has repeated it, “those who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ and his Church but sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, try to do his will as it is known through the dictates of conscience can attain eternal salvation."
The pope has not, however, issued a license for us to adopt the spirituality we find most convenient and comfortable, even if that means no spirituality at all.
And anyone who has read what this pope has written or listened to what he has said knows that he would not dismiss so lightly the value of worshipping God in the assembly of the Church.
On the contrary, he has stressed the importance of the Church as the Body of Christ as the source from which the “new evangelization” will flow out into the community and to the outskirts of society.
In the past, the teachings of the popes have been somewhat inaccessible, both because of the formality of their language and the means of their distribution.
But the homilies, speeches, and documents of Pope Francis are not difficult to understand and not difficult to find.
In this “information age,” we can easily read them or read about them in responsible publications.
If we want to know what Pope Francis teaches, we should not rely on Facebook to tell us.
—Facebook launched on February 4, 2004