These days I am reading A Secular Age by Charles Taylor (the Canadian philosopher, not the one from Africa) and I am being enlightened, no question. It is changing how I see secular culture and giving me a 10,000 foot historical overview of the Latin church. I wouldn't say it is affecting my faith in Christ as much as it is revealing and clarifying the tensions present in the Catholic church and its teachings. I won't give examples here, as this would be trying to rewrite Taylor's scholarly essays. You'll find plenty of material in his first Chapter called Bulwarks of Belief.
As for secularity, the book is showing me perhaps why I see the world the way I do. I am a product of North America, circa 70s and 80s, having been shaped by its world view. So much of this is intrinsic to the formation my thinking that I could not easily critique why I think the way I do. I have had trouble trying to interpret my reading of Scripture over the years (both in the English and in Koine) and how this applies to modern life, only to realize that perhaps the folks from the bible wrote based on a cosmos principle that colored the way that their minds saw the heavens and the earth.
I have also had trouble trying to understand the apparent stability of the universe and of physical and chemical laws including complex systems (such as a healthy mind and the conception of physical life) irrespective of moral choice and action in contrast to the literature of the Old and New Testament Scriptures and the teachings of the church.
I know way too much (and for quite a long time by now, like since 12) for any naive belief to be truly sincere to God (I tried but I couldn't follow God based on blind belief). But why should I be blamed it? I can't return to the village after having visited Paris. It's time to take the bull by the horns and deal with these matters to gain perspective and make an informed judgment. After all, why has God given me faculties to inquire and investigate only to have these become the lubrication of a slippery slope into the lake of fire?
In my opinion critical thinking, reason, and clarity must be tools and not stymies to belief in the modern age. Hell, there's no going back for me! The cat's out of the bag. It is from here that I will continue my journey.
