Welcome!

“Do Not Be Afraid … You Are My Dearest Friends”*

Toxic Fear is perhaps life’s greatest hostage-taker. One psychiatrist calls it a “disease of the imagination.” Fear and disabling Worry can start off like a tiny seed and, watered by thoughts that emphasize worst-case scenarios, grow into a virus-like fiend that ends up dominating our mental state. It then holds us back from our ability to enjoy nearly every dimension of our life: our talents, our work, our love, our play, and our approach to a life in the Spirit.

This website is dedicated to three major Defense Systems that can be effective in helping us overcome the insidious nature of fear, as well as other mental health demons like depression. It will also focus on how we can better live out our lives free of those persistent foragers that roam throughout the corners of our minds… relentlessly haunting us.

Those three Defense Systems are: Spirituality, Psychology and Addiction. All three of these provide newly developed means of delving into the root causes of fear and depression and other mental health disorders, and assisting people in finding improved pathways to freedom, joy, and peace.

“Do not be afraid” – a phrase found 365 times in Sacred Scripture!

*Luke 12:32; translation found in The Bible in Contemporary Language, Eugene H. Peterson

Recent Posts

  • Us and Them

    I’m in the middle of a book on the history of Cuba. It may sound boring, but it’s not. Cuba’s history is a mismatch of heroism, extreme racism, lofty aspirations …

  • Is God Done?

    So did God, who is said to be all–knowing and super intelligent, mess up when he created us and the rest of the universe? The “human condition” – generally all …

  • How the World Works

    “If you want peace, seek justice.” – Pope Paul VI “That’s not how the world works.” – Many of the world’s leaders. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “what …

  • Why “Skeptical Faith?”

    Some readers may wonder why I call my blog “Skeptical Faith.” Aren’t the two words at odds, antithetical? Not in my view. In fact, I hope that all believers are …

  • The Answer to God’s “Absence”

    One of my favorite quotes about God is not from a usual source, but from that great “philosopher and theologian,” Archie Bunker. For those who may be reading the Spanish …

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Past Posts

mm Tom Carney

Us and Them

Mar 13, 2026

I’m in the middle of a book on the history of Cuba. It may sound boring, but it’s not. Cuba’s history is a mismatch of heroism, extreme racism, lofty...

mm Tom Carney

Is God Done?

Mar 06, 2026

So did God, who is said to be all–knowing and super intelligent, mess up when he created us and the rest of the universe? The “human condition” – generally...

mm Tom Carney

How the World Works

Feb 28, 2026

“If you want peace, seek justice.” – Pope Paul VI “That’s not how the world works.” – Many of the world’s leaders. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is,...

mm Tom Carney

Why “Skeptical Faith?”

Feb 20, 2026

Some readers may wonder why I call my blog “Skeptical Faith.” Aren’t the two words at odds, antithetical? Not in my view. In fact, I hope that all believers...

mm Tom Carney

The Answer to God’s “Absence”

Feb 13, 2026

One of my favorite quotes about God is not from a usual source, but from that great “philosopher and theologian,” Archie Bunker. For those who may be reading the...

mm Tom Carney

“The Sin of the World”

Feb 06, 2026

In the Catholic Mass (and no doubt in services of some other churches), the prayer, “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on...

mm Tom Carney

The Power of the Powerless

Jan 30, 2026

How did the communist system sustain itself in Russia and much of Eastern Europe for three decades? Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney answered this question with a short story...

mm Tom Carney

What It Means to Be a Disciple

Jan 23, 2026

There’s a church in the U.S. that’s named “the Disciples of Christ.” I know little about it except from what I read on its web site. It was started...