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Thursday, August 9, 2012
What is "Faith" and "Reason"
Faith and Reason are terms often thrown around in discussions with Atheists and Religious folks.
What do they mean?
Do they work together or are opposed to each other?
I don't know what other atheists mean, but I do know what I mean when I refer to those terms.
"Reason" is a reference to rational thinking. I do not accept a claim that a particular state of affairs is true unless the claim is supported by data and a rational conclusion based on that data.
To date, nobody (not for lack of trying) has provided a sound argument that would demonstrate that a god exists. Thush, reason (rational thinking) forces us to stop short of concluding that a god does exist. This is why weak atheism (lack of belief that a god exists) is the only coherent position. Strong atheism (God does NOT exist) is also coherent about SOME versions of gods (eg the Biblical God is logically impossible and can't possibly exist).
"Faith" is the words that theists tend to use when they run out of arguments. When backed against the wall, they will say "Faith is a gift, I have faith because God gave me faith, you don't have faith so you don't believe". Nonbelievers find that to be annoying and intellectually dishonest.
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I don't know what other atheists mean, but I do know what I mean when I refer to those terms.
ReplyDelete"Reason" is a reference to rational thinking. I do not accept a claim that a particular state of affairs is true unless the claim is supported by data and a rational conclusion based on that data.
To date, nobody (not for lack of trying) has provided a sound argument that would demonstrate that a god exists. Thush, reason (rational thinking) forces us to stop short of concluding that a god does exist. This is why weak atheism (lack of belief that a god exists) is the only coherent position. Strong atheism (God does NOT exist) is also coherent about SOME versions of gods (eg the Biblical God is logically impossible and can't possibly exist).
"Faith" is the words that theists tend to use when they run out of arguments. When backed against the wall, they will say "Faith is a gift, I have faith because God gave me faith, you don't have faith so you don't believe". Nonbelievers find that to be annoying and intellectually dishonest.