Religion
In reply to the discussion: Faith is the excuse we give ourselves to believe things without good reason [View all]darkstar3
(8,763 posts)I'll present you with an intellectual exercise to make my point, but first, we must establish two things.
1. The meaning of faith. In the context of this post, "faith" does not necessarily carry a religious overtone. While I usually like to be precise in how I use the word "faith," and dislike the colloquial usage embodied in the statement "I have faith in my abilities," for this one post I will admit that it does not matter which definition of "faith" you use, the end result is the same.
2. The meaning of the word ignorant. People often take offense to the word "ignorant" and equate with pejoratives like "stupid." In the context of this post, "ignorant" means exactly what it was intended to mean when the word was coined: Possessing no knowledge of the subject in question. We are all born generally ignorant, and while we all work to correct that problem, every human being on this earth is still ignorant about a great many things.
With that out of the way...please take a look at the following three premises.
Premise A: The brake system on a brand new car to be sold, that no one has ever driven before, will bring that vehicle to a halt.
Premise B: If I throw a softball into the air high enough, it will never come down.
Premise C: There is a race of beings living somewhere in the universe who are exactly like those depicted as "Q" in the Star Trek TNG television series.
How do we react to each of these premises? Well, to start with, we have solid evidence (repeated ad nauseum) for A and against B. Therefore, even when told to reserve judgment until I see with my own eyes, I (John Q. Public) will have faith in A and not in B.
But what about C? We have absolutely no evidence either way. I am completely ignorant as to the probability of this premise being true or false. Now I have an opportunity to choose whether I have faith.
(As a side note, if your reaction to Premise C was "false", then you will perhaps understand why so many atheists refer to it as the "default position."
My point: When presented with a premise, faith is not a choice unless one is ignorant.