How can an Oxford don be a Roman Catholic?

Question

I went to Wikipedia today. They always have a feature page showing. This one was about JRR Tolkien. There was a prominant reference to his being Roman Catholic made the more prominent because it was blue hyper text. I have an Irish Catholic background. I am died in the wool Irish, have two Irish parents. As you know Irish are Catholic by birthriight. I went to Catholic school. That is my back ground. What puzzles me is how anyone who is an Oxford don could be a Catholic. I went to a state school, I did'nt have the same educational advantages as him, yet I have been able to figure out that religion is hoakum. Many people have told me that religion is subjective, a matter of faith, and that like taste there is no accounting for it. I am no longer willing to accept that argument as religion is an objective thing that religionists are trying to foist on the rest of us. There is enough information in a junior college history course to show religion as a cultural specific.

I know this guy is dead, It is just the principle of the thing.

Answer 1

Maybe he could think! Most likely he approached Truth, more that the masses!

Answer 2

It's not clear what you're asking. Do you mean, how can someone be smart enough to be an Oxford don, but dumb enough to be a Roman Catholic? If so, then I say, with all due courtesy, that you're a bigot. Perhaps you ought to examine the reasons highly educated, intelligent people become or remain Roman Catholics. It's not hard to find sources for such things, after all. There are plenty of books by people explaining their reasons for becoming Catholic, and there are plenty of books that will try to convince you to believe the things the Catholic Church teaches. You may not want to accept such beliefs, but if you wonder about them, it's worth taking the time to find out how believers themselves think on the subject.

Also, did the possibility ever occur to you that the reason you think religion is hokum is that your own education is inadequate? That you are surprised to find an Oxford don who was a Roman Catholic strongly suggests that this is the case -- because there have been many Oxford dons who accepted some form of religious belief, as indeed have most of the greatest minds for the whole history of the western world. It's the atheists and agnostics who are the tiny minority, friend. Doesn't mean the latter are wrong; just means it's perfectly possible to be an educated believer.