When Faith Is Taken for Knowledge,

[MineralMan]

the doors of the mind close and are locked. That is my opinion. We should all constantly question everything we accept through faith alone. That's not just in regard to religion, although such acceptance often begins with religious faith. We have been conditioned to believe many things. Many of us accept on faith that our government wishes us well and that our laws are just.

In some ways, such acceptance stands as a block to investigation. If we have faith in our government and laws, we are likely to avoid questioning either, just as we often avoid questions having to do with our religious beliefs. Both systems should be questioned actively and always. We have faith in a set of religious "facts," and do not look at the "facts" others have faith in. We have faith that government will end up "doing the right thing," but examination shows that not to be the case necessarily.

Faith can be an obstacle to understanding. Faith tends to be rigid and unquestioning. Often, we are punished as children for questioning things. That conditions us not to question, because we remember those punishments unconsciously.

I suggest we stop mistaking faith for knowledge or truth. I suggest we question everything and insist on explanations and demonstrable facts. We should ask why young black men are shot so frequently by police, and why ancient religious texts should be believed without question. We should question everything and frequently. We should examine the things we have faith in and look for flaws.

That's my opinion for this Saturday afternoon. Your opinion might differ.

[marylandblue]

1. Maybe we should ask why faith is considered a form of knowledge tobegin with?

Why having faith means you don't need evidence at all?

[MineralMan]

2. Oh, that's an argument that has been made again and again, from

both sides. The religious side claims that faith is based on knowledge. The other side claims otherwise. Lengthy tomes have been written on the subject, most of them from the religious point of view.

We see those arguments made here all the time.

[marylandblue]

3. I've seen and read those arguments myself

Faith always seems to making a special pleading for itself. We don't actually take anything on faith, unless we can call it religion. Even then, I don't believe people are really taking things on faith. They are taking things on evidence, even if it is non scientific evidence. But non scientific evid3nce is not fashionable, so nobody wants to admit they are using it.

[MineralMan]

4. You have a good point.

However, when I look outside of the DU demographic, I see something completely different. They vote, too, unfortunately. It's not encouraging.

[MineralMan]

6. We ARE just a tiny flicker, of course.

It is simply true. Thanks for your reply. I enjoyed reading it.

[guillaumeb]

7. Our investigation, speaking of humans, is limited by our intellect.

Our understanding is similarly limited.

Thus our conclusions are limited.