An Introduction to Faith
Faith and religion.
Why faith is evil.
Science and faith.
Definition of faith.
Point of faith.
Conclusions.
Faith and religion:
If proof or evidence was required before people could have faith in something, the lack of proof or evidence would be meaningful. But neither proof nor evidence are pre-requisites to faith. After all, if you had proof or evidence, you wouldn't *need* faith.
If faith is legitimate, then people can choose to have faith in anything at all. There are no rational standards for what 1 should have faith and in and what 1 shouldn't. (Because if reason justified the belief, faith would not be needed.)
So the only thing you can do is prove that people do in fact have faith that this is what they should do and do in fact act on that faith. But you can't prove that it's reasonable for them to do so because no faith is reasonable.
Isn't it enough to show that people do in fact do this? Of course they don't have a reason. If they had a reason, we wouldn't be complaining about it.
If we decide to believe such statements on the basis of faith, we could wind up believing quite literally anything.
Faith is an evil.
Why faith is evil:
Faith is a guide to the actions of moral agents. That is, what a person does will in fact depend upon what he has faith in. However, faith provides no ability to distinguish good from evil. That is, what 1 has faith in is necessarily arbitrary. If arbitrary action is not evil, then nothing is. Arbitrary actions by moral agents are pretty much the definition of evil.
For example, suppose a judge flipped a coin on whether or not he should punish because he had faith that the coin is right. That is, rather than using rational standards to decide the punishment, he'll let it depend on the flip of a coin. This would be evil, and not just when the coin made the wrong decision. It is evil because it is an abdication of the responsibility to distinguish good from evil in ones decisions.
Similarly, because beliefs determine actions, faith determines beliefs, and faith provides no way to distinguish good from evil, faith itself is evil.
Faith is evil because faith can justify anything. There is no action that a person cannot argue is justified because he has faith that it is right. If you believe that faith is an acceptable means to decide what to believe, you will ultimately have no choice but to accept that a person may do whatever he pleases, all he needs to do is say that he has faith it is the right thing to do. You will have no rational reply.
There is no such thing as a "way to decide what to have faith in."
Science and faith.
Science does not demand faith - that is belief in the absence of, or, worse still, contrary to evidence - it demands rationality and a desire to know the truth. Scientific theories are not always right; consider the theory about luminiferous aether. But the power of science is not that it always produces theories that are right; it is that it does not command blind obedience or unquestioning loyalty.
Everyone needs faith that the sun will rise the next day or is shining - except when it doesn't.
Definition of faith:
Faith is belief not just in the absence of demonstration, but in the absence of belief in the possibility of demonstration. That is, fully knowing that the people 1 chooses to belief cannot demonstrate the truth of their beliefs.
The definition of faith is "confident belief without logical proof or material evidence." That is, belief that is not justified by demonstration.
Faith is specifically the doctrine that we should believe things even if the available evidence is insufficient to justify that belief.
Faith is Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Point of Faith:
The whole point of faith is to justify believing something (and then acting on that belief) without any rational grounds for the belief. All you have is that you want to believe it or that you choose to believe it.
Faith is always wrong when you need it:
If you had any way to know that what you were believing in was right, that would justify believing in it, and you wouldn't need faith. You only need faith to believe in something you have no way of knowing is right.
Relation between faith and religion:
Faith is not to be confused with religion.
Religion is founded on a dangerous premise: faith.
When you have evidence to justify your conclusions, that's science. When you believe things beyond the justification of evidence, that's religion.
Conclusions:
Faith serves no purpose. If you have evidence to justify believing that something is true, you don't need faith. The evidence alone is reason enough to believe. And if you don't have evidence to believe that something is true, you shouldn't believe it's true.
So long as one believes something is true only to the extent that it has actually been demonstrated to be true, then no level of faith at all is needed. Faith is only needed to believe something is true to an extent greater than the evidence justifies.
For rational people, beliefs must be justified by evidence or demonstration. Faith is simply an excuse for believing something arbitrary or unsupported.