The Argument For, And Against, Faith

Faith: firm belief in something for which there is no proof


Blind Faith: belief without true understanding, perception, or discrimination


Thousands of years ago, before humans had developed strong critical thinking skills and before we understood many of the basic things in our natural environment, people reconciled their need to make sense of that which they did not understand with explanations according to their best guesses about what was happening around them.


To bolster their belief that their guesses were accurate and maintain a sense of security in understanding a very complex, and often frightening world, they sought confirmation of their beliefs via dream interpretation, shared stories, and popular legends.


Before we understood the sub-conscious mind and its function in the brain, and before we had an understanding of rapid eye movement (R.E.M.) sleep, humans believed that the "mind movies" they saw while sleeping were messages from other worlds, instructing them, giving them orders, and foretelling their futures.


The fact that many of the tidbits of information gleaned from the dreams of our ancestors turned out to be helpful is attributable to the fact that our subconscious mind picks up on cues in our environment that trigger instinctive responses. Weather patterns may cause us to instinctively perceive an oncoming drought, for example, which translates into a dream telling us we must build a reserve of food for emergency use. Because we do not always understand the mechanisms behind the subtle environmental input and our subconscious reaction to it, we often imagine an other-worldly connection that, in reality, is quite mundane and natural to this world.


It's interesting how many news stories show humans expressing astonishment that the behaviors of some animals seem to be able to "predict" earthquakes and other natural phenomena, when my own ancestors (I have a Cherokee-Irish background on my mother's side of the family) and current members of the Cherokee Nation will tell you that humans living in a more natural environment often perceive these subtle hints of natural events as well.


There's nothing advanced, other-worldy, or amazing about it. It's one of the most basic functions of the amygdala, that part of the brain which creates fear-based and emotional reactions to environmental input.


Unfortunately, along with the ability to perceive dangers, (many of which turn out to be very real), comes the tendency to exaggerate fears, resulting in an overreaction or irrational fear, which can then result in unnecessary avoidance and anxiety, which often leads to hate and violence at the extreme.


This is why animals are often seen attacking humans who mean them no harm whatsoever. The wild bear is unable to discern whether you intend to kill her cubs, so she responds by ripping you apart when you get too close. She's not committing this violence because she's a thug high on crack, she's doing it out of an instinctive reaction driven by the amygdala. Sadly, even though humans have mental capabilities which allow them to discern what a bear can not, many fail to develop this ability and function at the lowest levels of neurological activity.


Recently, science has discovered that the more religious/conservative among us have a more active and larger-sized amygdala, meaning that the emotional, fear-based "fight or flight" response is stronger in those who are more prone to belief in religion and superstition than for their more skeptical counterparts.


Those who tend to lean towards the more rational explanations for things in their natural environment have been shown to have thicker anterior cingulates, which is an area of the brain associated with anticipation and decision-making.


We know for a fact that the human body has evolved and changed over the years. In fact, in more recent years, there have been more adaptive mutations etched in the human genome occurring about 100 times more quickly over the past 10,000 years than in any other period in the history of the human species. (For more information, check out this article.)


The fact that many people are unaware of this stems from the reality that very few people have been educated about the human genome project, the fact that it is complete, and what has been discovered as a result of it. This is because the project was begun, and completed, within the past 15 years, and most of us over the age of 20 never had the opportunity to learn it in high school science class because the information hadn't yet been discovered.


When Galileo promoted the evidence that the earth was not the center of the universe, and that the sun did not revolve around the earth, he was almost murdered by the church, and was forced to spend the rest of his life under house arrest.


Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for his scientific proclamations, which were in opposition to beliefs held by the Catholic church, and the list goes on.


The fact that religion-based governments with fascist tendencies killed off many scientists who presented facts they discovered in opposition to the teachings of the church is a testament to not only the need for political groups to maintain control of populations through the use of religion, but also of the need for a people who had become comfortable with the ideas they spent their entire lives reading, believing, and repeating to hold on to them at any cost, regardless of any evidence discovered to the contrary.


We seem to be at a precarious stage in human development, with a rapidly-increasing understanding of our world in conflict with cultural beliefs developed over thousands of years. Our emotional and cultural attachment to these ideas makes it difficult to accept new information when it appears to contradict what we have come to believe as truth and in which we also may find extreme comfort. However, when one looks back on the mass murders and horrendous wars waged throughout history, it is clear that religion and superstition, which often give way to bigotry, have played the largest role.


The fear of having ideas to which we have such an emotional attachment opposed causes those who are fear-driven to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to anything which even remotely sounds contradictory, causing an ever-widening gap between the superstitious believer and the critical thinker.


Religious people often claim that "faith requires no evidence", yet they are constantly attempting to bolster their faith with arguments that are designed to remove the need to subject their beliefs to any intellectual scrutiny. In the mind of the religious, science and logic are simply inadequate tools for understanding such "mysterious" forces as the objects/beings which serve as the foundation of their belief system, yet none of them have ever thought to ask where the stories they say they believe in come from, and why the sources of those stories should be seen as credible witnesses. The reason? Not only are they not motivated to put the mechanisms behind their beliefs under scrutiny, they are motivated to run as far away from understanding them as possible, lest they discover something which threatens the beliefs to which they have become so emotionally attached.


Life is scary. It's a terminal illness from which we will all eventually die; and while we are living, even basic day-to-day survival can be difficult. Certainly, not one person who finds comfort in the ideas and stories of gods, angels, gnomes, faeries, and other benevolent beings handed down throughout thousands of years of human existence can be blamed for their eagerness to embrace such comfortable ideas. However, it is an unfortunate reality that these superstitions are behind much of the trouble against which many people find themselves struggling.


I can't tell you how many times I have received chain letters via e-mail claiming that the "money angel" or "blessings of abundance" will be bestowed on all who forward said e-mail to at least 10 or 20 of their closest friends. What's worse, I've actually gotten notes from those who send them expressing hope that sending it to me will help them come up with the money to pay their overdue utility bills, and wishing me abundance from doing the same thing and forwarding it on to my friends. "It can't hurt!" is the frequent mantra of those who are willing to spend the time necessary to click on the names of their friends and acquaintances and forward the message. However, the attitudes and behaviors behind it can, and do, hurt many.


Magical thinking is behind much of the economic trouble we are seeing in our society today. There seems to be the idea that if we just have "faith", we can buy homes which cost more on a monthly basis than we can actually afford to live in, vehicles with higher payments than we can afford to make when gas prices rise, and anything we see on sale which we'd like to have, despite the fact that we have no budget and no clue how we will weather any financial disasters or personal emergencies which might create a loss of income.


I know many religious folks who will tell you that the behaviors I have just described are sinful. Still, those behaviors are based in a lack of critical thinking about the realities in which we live, and it is an unfortunate fact that the willingness to believe in religious doctrines without question, even if it all turns out to be true, is the same mental process that allows the mind to justify believing in other things which have no supporting evidence beyond the arbitrary interpretation of those who wish to believe it.


Faith has its place. Faith can see us through some very difficult times. Faith can give us strength to hang on and see something through, whether it's surviving a prison sentence or achieving goals which have never before been accomplished, even in the absence of certainty that it can be done. However, there is a difference between the faith that allows us, even motivates us, to press on and the blind faith that causes us to stay stuck in a pattern of destructive behavior.


It's not the faith that's the problem, it's the type of faith. Is it faith motivated by a genuine desire for the accomplishment of a worthwhile goal, such as contributing to the betterment of the human condition and the refinement of our personalities and behaviors, or is it faith in a system which excuses us from the often difficult exercise of utilizing critical thinking and overcoming our primal urges to distance ourselves from others who are different than us through judgement and hate disguised as religion? Is it faith in hard work and tenacity to allow us to meet our obligations and overcome our challenges, or is it faith in "miracles" which we hope will erase the evidence of our failure to expend the necessary effort required to fulfill our hope for a better world and a better life?


I have friends ranging from the extremes of atheist to the devout and everything in between. Some are secular Christians who value the philosophies of religion but do not necessarily embrace the supernatural and legalistic aspects of it, while others pray for me on a regular basis because they believe I am horribly lost and will burn in the lake of fire for admitting that I am without belief in the supernatural, including any deities. I know many religious "leaders", including past and present ministers, preachers, priests, et al who have the ability to inspire their congregations with messages of love and understanding.


I believe that all of my friends of faith have good intentions, and that those who are religious have chosen religion (and it is a choice, which indicates that there is some reasoning behind it, even if those claiming it's all about faith are not willing to say so) out of a genuine desire to refine themselves into better people. I think that's admirable, and I fully support them in the path which they have chosen for themselves toward that goal.


However, I would be remiss not to point out the many traps on the road into which I have myself fallen in the past. When I see someone lifting a foot aimed at a hole leading to the abyss, I mention it, much to the annoyance of some who believe it to be a golden foothold. I am sure it is just as disheartening to them for me to mention that they are engaging in immoral behavior disguised as religion as it is frustrating for a well-meaning hiker to be told that feeding wild animals can lead to their dependence on easy access to food and, ultimately, their extinction.


I have read far too many stories of people hoping for a miracle from their god to heal their child in lieu of medical treatment which was almost certain to save their lives... of people killing gays because they believe their god hates gays and wants them to do so. I understand that these are not the typical folks you'll find in the churches of mainstream America, but that isn't the point.


The point is that, for those who use faith as a justification for anything, the danger will always exist that they will use it for the justification of something less virtuous than leading a life absent of the seven deadly sins, but that they may one day decide that faith is a justification for far more sinister behavior, giving them authority to commit heinous acts against others, as we have seen throughout history.


It isn't necessary that mass murders take place as a result of faith in order for faith to become a dangerous tool instead of a useful means through difficulty. A simple disregard for the reality surrounding us based on faith is enough to cause us to make a series of bad decisions that will later lead to the collapse of everything we have worked for and everything which we stand for as decent human beings.


Many of the people who have decided that they are victims of a bad economy are actually victims of their own bad decisions. While it may be true that there is much corruption in our government and economic institutions (The Federal Reserve and commercial banks, for example) the fact of the matter is that those who have consistently anticipated possible challenges and planned ahead have managed to survive the economy without becoming homeless, even though they may have had to tighten their belts and are noticing that they no longer have the luxury of doing what they want whenever they want due to financial considerations.


To a certain extent, we are all affected by the poor decisions of those we pay to represent us in our government, but we are affected far more by our own vices and the excuses we use to justify them than we would like to admit.


The world is full of grieving parents who lost their children to tragic accidents, despite the fact that they had faith that there was a guardian angel watching over their child. When it becomes apparent that their belief in a guardian angel didn't protect their child, they comfort themselves with the idea that "god needed them in heaven", when the truth is, not giving a stranger the opportunity to have access to their child would have certainly prevented the child from harm.


To the extent that faith helps us navigate a difficult world, I think it can be a useful tool. When faith is used as an excuse for not learning about the world around us in a way which allows us to have healthy attitudes towards those who are different than us and to function as contributors to, rather than isolationists from, a world in need of discerning minds, it can be as dangerous a weapon as a surgical knife used to murder instead of heal.


It's not about being more intelligent, or having a "big brain". It's about how you use that brain (and the intelligence of which it is capable) to humble yourself, removing your need for an invisible friend with all of the answers and the power to make all of your problems go away, and instead accepting that the answers are no more accessible to one who has access to them only by proxy than to one who has no belief in an invisible all-knowing being at all. The former claims special privilege by association to one with all the answers, ("my daddy is better than yours" or "uh-oh... you're gonna be in TROUBLE because you made my daddy mad") and  the latter humbly admits their limitations without the need to be a special child of a supernatural superhero.


Faith. It's a tool that, if a license were required for its responsible use, many would fail the test.


A.