Faith

Faith. You likely think immediately of religion and either embrace, are apathetic or are possibly hostile. Yet Faith is a cornerstone for almost everyone’s mindset. As in the picture above, we have lots of faith without thinking of it as religious. Faith simply means to put belief or trust into something or someone as reliable, working according to expectations or worthy of entrusting your well-being into the providence of that which is beyond your creation or control. As much as that may seem religious, let’s use our picture as an example about faith:

We have a rock climber. On a rope. Under an overhang. Nothing visible underneath. He is in this situation by choice and has brought equipment to assist. To overcome the obstacle, he is using the rope for security while he positions himself for his next move. We are unsure whether he is going up or down but he knows his intention. He has chosen the rope and his gear as an appropriate resource for his situation. He believes the rope is of high enough quality to serve his purpose. He is wearing his climbing belt and trusts it to fulfill its purpose. He appears to have the rope secured to a pinion in the rock and trusts the placement. He is confident the rock is of a quality that will not fail to hold the pinion. He also seems to be confident with the consistency of the force of gravity.

So, Choice, Assist, Security, Intention, Resources, Belief, Trust, Confidence – yes, he has Faith – in the equipment, the rock, his skills, his knowledge, his experience. He has been in this kind of situation before and accomplished his purposes. Whether or not he goes through a mental checklist or simply ‘feels’ the confidence that this has been successful before, he has faith in the resources.

Belief is like that – we learn the trustworthiness of what we rely upon to accomplish the goal before us. Most of us trust the worthiness of our food and water supply to be healthy, we trust the electrical wiring in our homes, workplaces, shopping entertainment venues to be correctly installed and not be harmful to us. We believe that we are generally safe from Chicken Little’s “the sky is falling” and do not live in fear that the ground we are walking upon will cease to support us adequately. We trust other drivers to use reasonable care in operation of their vehicles in proximity to us in traffic. Most of us have confidence that we will need the things we possess today to live again tomorrow. Faith is placed in both tangibles and intangibles

There are limits to our Faith or areas where we are not as certain of the outcome – things like politics, relationships, the unforeseen future, our personal health or the welfare of those for which we care. These are realms where we have uncertainty, we don’t hold enough of the pieces or have enough experience or control to have confidence in the outcome as we intend. In these we tend to act with uncertainty, un-faith.

“Faith” comes from the Latin root for fides from which we transliterate fideles which was originally used to describe the willful surrender of one person’s rights to another who was entrusted with the other’s welfare. Fidelity is the accuracy of remaining consistent in that surrender either to person, cause or concept. The Greek word “pistis” and “pisteuo” used in the New Testament Bible also carries this sense of entrustment to something beyond oneself. This concept is also found in Twelve Step program’s second step, “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us…”.

In the United States of America there are a majority who identify as Christian albeit with many interpretations of what that means to them. Worldwide, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism are the religions with the largest claimed adherents totaling 77% of all peoples. But, as indicated, Faith is in many things besides a singular God.

Sophists (and philosophists) follow the early Greek tradition of reason, rhetoric, philosophy and rationalism as the basis for belief undergirding life and ethics. True reason will equate true good and hence, fulfillment.

Humanists believe they are at a higher level perceiving and reasoning all that is necessary to negotiate life and that determinate decisions are worthy of confidence.

Fideism contends that faith is independent of reason, and according to Kant, “we must deny knowledge to make room for faith”. Reason cannot achieve truth which may only come via faith.

Buddhism commits to the teachings of Buddha as the path to enlightenment which guides followers in discovery of their own attainment of truth and finding existence on a Higher Plain, Nirvana.

Islam believes in the complete submission to the will of Allah and a life founded in convictions and actions keeping with the life of faith in Allah.

Judaism rests upon trust in YAHWEH as the sole source of truth and upon which all knowledge, life and practice rests. That YAHWEH has covenanted to His followers to keep them to Himself.

Christian theology (and tradition) is founded on revelation of God about Himself and that revelation is wholly accurate and worthy of actionable confidence, that the Bible is evidential of God.

Shinto place confidence in fostering harmony between kami and humans. Kami are supernatural entities which inhabit all things including nature and locations. Its trust is in the solicitation of the kami’s blessing upon the adherent.

Baháʼí holds that all faiths are of a single God through multiple manifestations and are unified. If that Unity was to be accepted, peace would prevail and there would be a unified world of order.

Animism contends that all life shares commonality with all other matter and that harmony with all else, whether material or immaterial, comes through honoring the life-force within that entity.

Polytheism often refers to the belief in beings like ourselves but with extraordinary powers, abilities and passions which exert influences upon the world of mortals as these beings interact with other deities.

Reincarnationists place faith in cycles of rebirth with the soul of the unit immortal and moving through a succession of mortal beings — each cycle reflecting upon the quality of the previous being.

In a 2023 article by Jeffery M. Jones (of the Gallup organization), he wrote,

“Nearly half of Americans (47%) describe themselves as religious, another 33% say they are spiritual but not religious, and 2% volunteer they are “both.” Although the vast majority of U.S. adults have one of these orientations toward the nonphysical world, the 18% who say they are neither religious nor spiritual is twice the proportion Gallup measured when it first asked this question in 1999.”¹

In this report, respondents made a distinction between being spiritual, religious or neither. Lauren Ebersole wrote on TheHumanist.com of 27 April 2016 that,

“Now I consider myself a former Catholic and a current atheist. I’m a humanist. I’m a secularist. I don’t believe in a higher purpose, but I do think my life has meaning. I don’t find comfort in thinking someone has a plan for my life. I don’t think things happen for a reason. I don’t think there’s life after death, and I’m perfectly content with that. I have faith—it’s just not in a god… I have faith—I just choose to put my faith in people. I have faith that when I’m sad I’ll find comfort in the arms of my mother. I have faith that when I’m confused my father will provide guidance. I have faith that my siblings will always have my back. I have faith in the restorative power of laughter with friends. I have faith in me, that more often than not I’ll make the right decision.”²

This Faith has its object in her own intention — she chooses what to have faith in and her response in that faith.

Using a different tact, trust in the value of education means that a population is willing to carry the cost of educational establishments with an expectation that education will be beneficial to the society – $857 billion in U.S. during 2024 for K-12 alone. Investors place confidence in the ability of banks or corporations to increase the value of their assets such that the investor will receive a return on that productivity – about 162 million adults in U.S invest in the stock market. Contractors build housing with the expectation that home seekers will desiring shelter, quality and comfort will return profit to them. Elected officials believe that if they make popularly appropriate decisions, they will receive the appreciation of their constituents – over half a million in the U.S.

The University of Portland (Oregon) in its Advising Services for International Students delineates several factors that are values to be experienced in the U.S.:

1) Individualism,
2) Equality,
3) Informality,
4) The Future, Change and Progress,
5) Achievement, Action, Work and Materialism,
6) Directness and Assertiveness,
7) Time. ³

Baylor University (Waco) in its September 2011 Wave III Baylor Religion Survey highlighted “The Values and Beliefs of the American Public” as Religion, Politics, Health, Equality and Work.⁴

Whether Faith is based in religion, work ethic, tradition, society, education, science or some other personal mantra, Faith is part of the fabric of civilization and must be considered when determining the consistency and durability of any civilization. There is always some underlying belief system that provides a stability and drives that culture forward through changing circumstances.

FOOTNOTES:
¹ https://news.gallup.com/poll/511133/identify-religious-spiritual.aspx
² https://thehumanist.com/commentary/faith-without-god/
³ https://www.up.edu/iss/advising-services/american-values.html
⁴ https://baylorreligionsurvey.research.baylor.edu/sites/g/files/ecbvkj1931/files/2023-09/wave_3_2010_the_values_and_beliefs_of_the_american_public.pdf

For further reading on this subject:

Faith

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