the Burdens of Faith

the Burdens of Faith

This image is pretty straightforward to me. I know what it is trying to say, and I knew when I shot it what the intent was. Yet, if you look at it without reading this introduction, depending on your sensibilities or spiritual convictions, you can see it in one of two ways.

To the faith-based, Christian, or generally religious person, this priest, holding fast to a rope up to the heavens can appear to be clinging to faith, to God, to Heaven. To the atheist, this priest can appear to be burdened by this rope, held back, as if leashed from some unseen anchor from above.

In the end, both are sort of correct; faith can be a restriction and a lifeline at the same time. It limits your movement, you freedom, but it also gives you something to cling to. I read a lot of stories in searching for a title for this piece about priests losing their faith. It happens a lot. From my point of view, how could it not? The role of a priest, as representative of Jesus on Earth, is to comfort the sick and dying, galvanize the faithful, be hope for the despairing, and sell the promise of eternal life to those that obey the tenants of the Bible. The only thing is, all these claims and promises are completely unsubstantiated due to the increasingly implausible notion of the God above, who sees all and knows all, but is utterly absent from the events "down here."

My priest may be holding onto his faith here, or perhaps he is trying to pull down God from the sky, to hold him accountable for the centuries of pain, suffering, war, disease, and all other miseries passed off feebly as "God's Will."

If this was a landlord of an apartment complex or condominium, the man would be found guilty by a jury of his peers for gross negligence!

Model: Felix P.