Religion & Spirituality

Everyone Has Faith

Faith
Faith

First off, a definition of the term, a definition that I am willing to concede may not cohere with how others here understand the concept. Faith, to me, is the acknowledgement and acceptance of the reality of our own lack of omniscience, and the willingness, based upon the recognition of that deficiency, to accept certain propositions that cannot be definitively demonstrated to be true, but which, nevertheless, make perfect sense to accept (ex. the concept of a mind-independent, external, objective reality, or the reality of the past, or the existence of minds other than one's own).

Now, it's often been claimed that atheists simply lack faith in the reality of God, or (more accurately) they reject the notion out of hand, and that because of this the concept of faith is one they neither need nor desire. Apparently, the opposite of faith is reason based upon evidence, but the two of course are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and quite often faith underpins the search for whatever it is that one desires to substantiate, even though it's quite often the case that it's entirely inappropriate to do so (for instance, in one of the examples I gave above, the search for confirmation of the existence of an independent, objective reality, an idea that we must admit we will never be able to establish with certainty).

Why do people believe that reality will go on after their own demise? How could anyone ever demonstrate that that would be the case? If one accepts the notion of the finality of death, that it well and truly is the end of us in every conceivable way, and there is neither an afterlife nor reincarnation, then as far as things go from the perspective of the individual who has recently died, everything else is gone as well. It may as well be. Why should I, or anyone else for that matter, accept the notion that there really is an objective reality "out there" somewhere that will always be there? The simple truth is that I am forced to concede that I could never truly know this, and therefore must accept it on faith, and faith alone.

Science is a methodology, a means to an end, a tool and nothing more. It isn't materialism, naturalism, atheism or anything else similar. A person can accept the findings of science and still believe in God, or the supernatural, or the afterlife. Science does not, because it cannot, prove anything, because that's not its purpose. We use the method for the sole purpose of finding out how the natural world works, and to establish the rules, the patterns that are discerned (ex. the inverse square law). Whether or not God exists isn't a scientific question, but a philosophical one, because God, if such exists, would of necessity completely transcend the material world. How could it be otherwise? If God sustains in existence all we know, all that is physical, then it cannot be an aspect of that creation, cannot be found within the reality it was responsible for bringing into existence in the first place.

Now, none of what I say above I can "prove" in the mathematical sense of the term (and that's the only sense that actually matters). However, I do accept it all, because it makes perfect sense to do so, and the alternatives on offer (ex. that it all just somehow popped into existence from nothing and for no reason) are, quite frankly, just utterly ridiculous. Atheists don't know that God doesn't exist, and I can't prove to their satisfaction that it does. What we have here is an impasse, but I do believe that the truth is on the side of the theists, not the atheists. A purposeless, pointless and meaningless reality just doesn't make sense.

The simple truth is that atheists do have faith, in so many things. They cannot demonstrate God's non-existence, and at this point I can already see what they're going to say about that: "The burden of evidence lies with the claimant!", or "It's impossible to prove that something doesn't exist, only that something does". I've seen it all before, I'm familiar with all their arguments, and they're not convincing at all. Sure, the one making a claim has to present the evidence for that claim. That's how it works in a courtroom, but they fail to consider the fact that they themselves make a claim when they deny God (i.e. that God doesn't exist, or that there are no good reasons to believe that God exists, which is also a claim).

So there you have it. Atheists believe, because they have faith, that God isn't real. If I've left anything out, just say so in the comments.

Everyone Has Faith
Post Opinion