Brain for Hire

Logic & Faith

veritas-splendor:

allthingstrue:

Sometimes I’ve sat in deep consideration, just wondering, as to how people can be so absolutely blinded, ignorant or nonsensical to the woes of our pitiful existence. I mean, I try to put myself in their shoes simply for the purpose of attempting to understand, but cannot make sense of it all. I…

First off, I agree that one’s environmental conditions play a large role in the person they develop into. And religion or lack thereof is part of one’s environment. Yet I would disagree with you on most of the remainder of your post.

I was raise in a religious household and as I matured through my schooling I continued to develop my ideas and understandings of my religion. You seem to imply that by valuing logic and reason, one cannot be religious. To this I must disagree quite fervently. I am extremely interested and study philosophy (or love of wisdom). It is through this reason that I am actually able to support and prove my faith, and refute many of the claims laid out against it. As Pope John Paul II stated, “Faith and Reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of Truth.” This was from his encyclical on Faith and Reason.

I have examined my faith through the scope of pure reason and have only become stronger in my beliefs, for if reason and faith differ, one of three things must have happened.

1. You have bad reason and good faith
2. You have bad faith and good reason
3. You have bad faith and bad reason

Thus I would refute your claim that logic and reason disprove religion and ask that you may let me know of any questions you might have on the subject.

I am not sure about the administrator for allthingstrue but I have a few questions for you on the matter of faith and religion.

1. You say that your faith is cemented by logic and reason. Firstly I would like to define both faith and logic. Faith - a belief that is not based on evidence. Logic - a science of reasoning based on evidence. I would logically say that the two are polar opposites and one cannot support the other. For one to think otherwise would show a lack of logical thought. What religion do you follow?

2. Do you think you would still follow this religion if you had been born in another country with a much different environment to the one you were born in?

3. As per my previous comments on reason, I do not believe a quote by a faith official is relevant. It’s as if I were quoting a football player on the evidence for steady state theory. (I am aware this is not a question)

4. As for the bullet points towards the end, there are many issues. One cannot have ‘bad’ or ‘good’ reason or faith. If one’s mind is logically driven, with a propensity to accept evidence that is laid before them, then we can say one shows a sense of reason. However, if one chooses to reject what evidence lies before them, believing in discredited theories, then we can say that the person has faith in those concepts. You cannot have faith and logic at the same time. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that logically we can be 100% sure about things. However, we can be beyond reasonable doubt that they are the case. Faith is saying; “well, there’s a chance it could happen, so I’ll stand by it”. Now one could also say that in being logical, we are saying we are 99.9999% sure of something, and that in itself requires an act of faith. This is a logical thing to say, however, it is not an act of faith when it is backed by that much evidence. It is an act of faith to believe in the 0.0001% chance of an event occurring (to be very generous) blindly ignoring the vast amount of evidence. To say that one can be both faithful and reasonable is an absurdity.

I look forward to your response, especially on what religion you follow (as this allows many subsequent questions).