Faith
Faith
By Punkerslut
In the realm of philosophy, much like in the realm of science,
it is important that we value the method that we reach our
conclusions. What often separates different philosophies is how
they approach questions. A different philosophy will start out
with different premises, before building upon those premises,
and then -- ultimately -- applying them to the real world
(sometimes referred to as "Applied Ethics" when dealing with
morality). Often times, though, while one philosophy may start
out with a premise and another with a different premise, or a
"given," they will most likely use the same or similar methods
for approaching their questions. "What is the meaning of life?"
is an ancient philosophy question. "How do the organs in animals
work to ensure the survival of the creature?" is a biology
question. Both can be approached with the same method of
answering a question. The two primary methods of approaching a
question are Faith and Reason. While all logical philosophies
attempt to answer the questions of life using Reason, there are
still a great deal of illogical philosophies which use Faith as
their foundation. The two theories of approaching questions may
be summed up as follows. Reason believes that an idea should be
supported with evidence, demonstration, observation, anything
that could serve as a reason to support the hypothesis. Faith
believes in the idea that something is too noble or too divine
to need to be supported with evidence, and that it ought to be
believed regardless of what our natural senses tell us.
I will say this of Reason: it has provided science with an
accurate method of discerning truth from myth -- it has given
the common person the ability to understand and investigate
matters for themselves -- it has empowered the individual with
the right to judge truth from fiction, it has given to each
seeker a light to follow. The man who believed in Reason said,
"Why should I believe it?" and the man who believed in Faith
responded, "You don't need a reason to believe it." Religion,
psuedo-science, and government gained the respect of Faith,
while Reason struggled to survive in the darkness. Science, real
science, was banned from the churches and the governments.
Investigation was a crime, and every soul that desired to know
was a criminal. I defend Reason because it supports those values
which I hold close to me: compassion, truth, fairness, justice.
But the support of those ideas is only coincidental. I will
follow the footsteps of reason -- of a method that requires
evidence for every theory -- to whatever beliefs it brings me
to, to whatever suspicions it confirms or disconfirms. And when
we ask a theory to support itself with sound evidence, we find
that Humanitarianism gains worth and Rationalism is deserving of
respect.
I will say this of Faith: it has been the foundation of every
religion, every cult, every sect, every religious terrorist
organization that desired to gain advocates whose will greatly
exceeded their intelligence. When a religion asks that its
followers believe all that it declares, and to do so without
evidence, it speaks volumes of the intent and meaning of that
religion. These churches and mosques, they will keep their
followers in the shadows of millenium past. Evolution is still
howled as the great enemy of faith. It simply has the greatest
following of scientists and evidence. It's not scientifically
that any religion has ever tried to debunk Evolution. They
brought forth no evidence. They claimed no new discoveries.
Their only tactic was to point to a tattered, old Bible -- to
flip through the pages, and read the rancid words, almost as if
they were pure gold. Faith does not require investigation, or
evidence, or demonstration, or observation, or logical
deductions. It simply requires that a person believe, in spite
of what evidence may say: it requires that a person blindfolds
themselves when demonstration is shown, to use earplugs when
anyone speaks of logic, and to turn away at every reason for
them to believe what Faith tells them is wrong. Those cults and
sects which have utilized violence for the realization of their
apocalyptic future -- they required nothing but the willpower
and a great deal of Faith.
In this world, with the struggles for solidarity among the
workers, with the fights for a real Democracy in this
Consumerist society -- with the battles of life that have been
going on as long as there have been "haves" and "have nots" --
there is a real question: what is there to aid in the
advancement of civilization? I have yet to see a Capitalist
point to any evidence that Free Trade brings about prosperity.
There is a great deal of talk on hypothetical matters based on
unfounded conclusions, of what will happen or what will not
happen, and then some praised deduction that, in the end, the
worker is benefited. No where among all the talk of the
Capitalist does he bring about a single strand of evidence, a
single proof, that child labor, that slavery, that war and
Imperialism, that working 16 hours a day -- never does he prove
these things, but rather, he says, by allowing them, we are
becoming free. Faith supports these things, and it is why
religionists have so often sided with the Capitalist doctrine.
The church has been the enemy of the workers for centuries now.
In the beginning, in those Feudalist days of old, it has been
the benefiter of slavery, and the greatest owner of slaves. And
what is there to support these ideologies, these malicious
creeds of men? Nothing, but Faith: the idea that you should
believe regardless of what your heart tells you, in spite of
what your eyes see, regardless of what common sense dictates.
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