The Necessity of Faith
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by Bob Clasen
At this Christmas season, it seemed like a good time to raise the issue of Faith v. Reason.
Some secular types vigilantly fight for a “separation” between Church and State and seem to believe that they are superior to silly Christians and other religious types who live by faith.
This feeling of superiority is based upon a failure to understand their own motivations. It is based upon the delusion that human beings can live without faith.
In reality, nearly all humans live by faith. The only difference is what they put their faith in.
The reason we live by faith is that decisions of what is valuable or not valuable, what is right or wrong, are not questions for reason, but for faith.
Do you believe that people are valuable and ought to be treated with respect or even love? There is no rational proof for such a belief. Some believe that animals, insects or even trees have as much, or more value than human beings. This also is a leap of faith.
So all religious and political disputes are disputes between different faiths. One faith emphasizes the value of freedom. Another faith emphasizes the value of security over freedom and trusts government to care for the helpless. One faith is not more rational than the other. All are leaps of faith. All we can ask is that people be clear about what they are putting their faith in.
If you give up all faith (i.e., all belief in any value) all that remains is the impulse to scratch when you feel an itch, to eat when you feel hungry, etc. A life without faith is a life without any values, only the immediate gratification of random impulses.
This is why most discussion of Religion and Politics is so frustrating. We are talking about questions of faith, not reason. Reason comes in when two people agree about the goal in mind, but are trying to calculate the best means to achieving a shared goal. Reason is useful in calculating means. But the ends are matters of faith. The fact that you place your faith in something different than me is no reason form me to change my personal faith.
People who approach the null state of no faith have little motivation to do anything, except scratch when they itch. They no longer believe that life is superior to death, that freedom is superior to slavery, that human life is a sacred mystery to be preserved. They have a universal, caustic skepticism that dissolves all that is sacred and mysterious about life and replaces it with a dark sense of pessimism. By giving up all faith, they cease to be fully human and become mere animals.
If you choose to abandon faith and therefore, all sense of good and evil, that is your prerogative. But henceforward, be silent with regard to any discussion of public policy. You have nothing to say, for you believe in nothing.
As for me, I am not currently a member of any organized religion, but I have a personal faith. I believe that the world is beautiful and miraculously organized wonder. It appears to be the product of Intelligence. I believe that human beings are sacred creatures with the capacity of Faith and the power to choose good or evil. I have a personal religion that allows me to follow what I believe to be the best, and does not compel me to submit to some exterior, historical religious teaching against my best conscience. I feel that the world is an awesome and amazing place.
But I realize that I am a creature of faith and I am not ashamed to admit it.
If anyone believes that they can live without faith, I would be interested to hear how you do it.
__________________________
by Bob Clasen
At this Christmas season, it seemed like a good time to raise the issue of Faith v. Reason.
Some secular types vigilantly fight for a “separation” between Church and State and seem to believe that they are superior to silly Christians and other religious types who live by faith.
This feeling of superiority is based upon a failure to understand their own motivations. It is based upon the delusion that human beings can live without faith.
In reality, nearly all humans live by faith. The only difference is what they put their faith in.
The reason we live by faith is that decisions of what is valuable or not valuable, what is right or wrong, are not questions for reason, but for faith.
Do you believe that people are valuable and ought to be treated with respect or even love? There is no rational proof for such a belief. Some believe that animals, insects or even trees have as much, or more value than human beings. This also is a leap of faith.
So all religious and political disputes are disputes between different faiths. One faith emphasizes the value of freedom. Another faith emphasizes the value of security over freedom and trusts government to care for the helpless. One faith is not more rational than the other. All are leaps of faith. All we can ask is that people be clear about what they are putting their faith in.
If you give up all faith (i.e., all belief in any value) all that remains is the impulse to scratch when you feel an itch, to eat when you feel hungry, etc. A life without faith is a life without any values, only the immediate gratification of random impulses.
This is why most discussion of Religion and Politics is so frustrating. We are talking about questions of faith, not reason. Reason comes in when two people agree about the goal in mind, but are trying to calculate the best means to achieving a shared goal. Reason is useful in calculating means. But the ends are matters of faith. The fact that you place your faith in something different than me is no reason form me to change my personal faith.
People who approach the null state of no faith have little motivation to do anything, except scratch when they itch. They no longer believe that life is superior to death, that freedom is superior to slavery, that human life is a sacred mystery to be preserved. They have a universal, caustic skepticism that dissolves all that is sacred and mysterious about life and replaces it with a dark sense of pessimism. By giving up all faith, they cease to be fully human and become mere animals.
If you choose to abandon faith and therefore, all sense of good and evil, that is your prerogative. But henceforward, be silent with regard to any discussion of public policy. You have nothing to say, for you believe in nothing.
As for me, I am not currently a member of any organized religion, but I have a personal faith. I believe that the world is beautiful and miraculously organized wonder. It appears to be the product of Intelligence. I believe that human beings are sacred creatures with the capacity of Faith and the power to choose good or evil. I have a personal religion that allows me to follow what I believe to be the best, and does not compel me to submit to some exterior, historical religious teaching against my best conscience. I feel that the world is an awesome and amazing place.
But I realize that I am a creature of faith and I am not ashamed to admit it.
If anyone believes that they can live without faith, I would be interested to hear how you do it.
__________________________
Comments
Well, because of what people put their faith in. What did Hitler put his Faith in? What did Stalin put his faith in? What did Saddam Hussein put his faith in? What do the terrorists and suicide bombers put their faith in? If you believe that Power is the ultimate good, that any means justifies the end of your grabbing power, then you will do evil, at least by my Faith, which says you should not use force to compel others to do your will.
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If you believe that God has ordered you to kill infidel, then your faith will dictate that you murder as many of them as possible. The only hope with such, other than killing them first, is to expose them to alternate faiths and hope they choose something a little less lethal to those not of their faith.