Religious experience is such an intrinsic part of Western civilization that it would be difficult to distinguish the elements of the former from the latter. One of the central tenants of the Abrahamic religions, which dominate Western civilization, is faith. While this has sustained many different meanings throughout millennia, one may hold that faith is a belief when there is insufficient evidence.
Faith is not a conviction where there is enough evidence for something or when it is self-evident. For example, one should not employ this concept in reference to gravity or other experiences that have been repeated once and again in controlled conditions. Therefore, science does not go against religion, like many contemporary atheists would like to believe, but enables it to sustain a niche of its own. Likewise, mathematical and logical truths are self-evident and stem from axioms which must be accepted as true for the successive statements to be considered as true.
On the other hand, the term faith is used to express a firm conviction for which the evidence is not enough to make that definite conclusion. That is the reason why religion has been so important in Western civilization: with the great emphasis that it holds with respect to science, faith allows religion to offer an alternate explanation to that which the former cannot establish a cause-effect relationship. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (King James Version, Heb. 11:1). While modern science is focused on phenomena which may be seen, there are aspects of human experience which many not be visible or easily replicated; faith allows for the explanation of these events. The limitations of science and human knowledge allow for faith to flourish, as it does not need as much evidence as the rigor that characterizes scientific belief.
Finally, one must make the precision that this includes that for which there is no evidence at all but is still believed; however, this does not give others the right for others to ridicule them. Therefore, faith can be used to express even the wildest thoughts. Henry Louis Mencken stated that “Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable”, which looks to make the term look absurd. While there is a strong component of ridiculousness that may be found in the most extreme versions of what faith may hold, one must not forget that it is a person which holds that belief. In that sense, it is not right to belittle someone’s convictions because they are different, or they have less evidence.
In conclusion, faith may be thought of as a conviction for which there is not sufficient evidence. Because hard and formal sciences have other methods of proving their statements, faith is employed in a more religious context, where the recollection of evidence is insufficient, and sometimes even impossible. As such, it may be used for statements for which there is no evidence at all, which does not give anyone the rights to denigrate other people because of their belief system. Therefore, faith may be one of the most important battlegrounds for tolerance in the twenty-first century.
Works Cited
The Holy Bible, King James Version. Cambridge Edition: 1769. King James Bible Online. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
“Quotes: Faith”. Atheism: Man standing on his own two feet. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
