We need to talk about faith

A guest post by James Garth a Fellow of ISCAST with an active interest in the science/faith interface.

We need to talk about faith.

Or more specifically, about a pervasive, persistent and resilient caricature of what faith is. A false and impoverishing definition of faith that continues to persist despite ongoing attempts by thoughtful believers to correct it. [1]

Many thinkers have articulated this fallacious definition, and the gist is always the same: faith is believing in things you don’t have good evidence for. In his book “A Manual for Creating Atheists”, Peter Boghossian’s promotes two definitions which encapsulate this in a nutshell: faith is “belief without evidence” and “pretending to know things you don’t know.”

"… whenever you hear the word “faith,” just translate this in your head as, “pretending to know things you don’t know.” While swapping these words may make the sentence clunky, pretending to know things you don’t know” will make the meaning of the sentence clearer." [2]

I’ve argued elsewhere that this definition of faith bears little resemblance to the sort of faith that Paul articulates in the New Testament, a much richer and dynamic sort of faith filled with repeated appeals to evidence and personal experience that he makes in an effort to persuade others to follow his cause. [3]

But there’s a deeper and more fatal flaw with this definition: its failure to distinguish between good faith and bad faith. Or, more precisely, between intelligent faith and blind faith.

Grant Bartley, Editor of Philosophy Now, is acutely aware of the distinction:

“Intelligent faith is putting your trust in what you already have good (preferably the best) reasons to believe is true or will work. Intelligent faith is not, and can never be, putting your trust in something that you don’t have good reasons to believe is true. That’s not faith, that’s stupidity. It’s arbitrariness in thought and action.” [4]

Consider an example: a politician makes an election commitment to undertake a major infrastructure project and asks for your vote. Now, if you’re being honest with yourself, you’ll admit you don’t know with certainty whether he will actually be able to deliver the project on time and on budget as promised. The outcome is ultimately beyond your control. But this politician is an intelligent and capable man. He has a good track record with planning and executing similar projects. He’s submitted his costings, and has developed a solid risk management plan.

When you cast your vote, you’re putting your faith in him and his ability to deliver on his promises. But it’s an intelligent faith. It’s not arbitrary, it’s an informed decision to get on board and get behind his plan.

Now consider another example: a random stranger walks up to you on the street. He asks you for a hundred dollars, saying that he knows that if he puts the money on the roulette wheel at the casino right now, he’ll win it back thirtyfold. Just have faith, he says! Hand over the cash!

Now, clearly, to give him the cash would constitute a very different sort of faith. It’s blind faith, as he’s given you no warrant at all, no reason to think that what he’s suggesting will actually come to pass.

Failure to acknowledge this distinction between intelligent faith and blind faith is the cause of many an avoidable argument between the theist and the atheist. But unless atheists like Boghossian can fully accept that thoughtful believers completely disagree with his definitions of “faith”, and unless theists fully accept that their atheist friends may well have a completely different concept in their minds whenever they hear or use the term “faith”, we will be forever ships passing in the night.

^{Photo by Karolina Grabowska: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-shot-of-a-person-praying-while-holding-a-rosary-5206842/}

References:

[1] Peter Boghossian vs Tim McGrew, Unbelievble?, Premier Christian Radio, 24 May 2014.

[2] Peter Boghossian, A Manual for Creating Atheists, Chapter 2, Pitchstone Publishing, 2013

[3] James Garth, I am not insane!, City Bible Forum, May 2014

[4] Grant Bartley, The Metarevolution, p155, May 2009.