Some Observations on Faith

Faith. It plays a crucial role in the life of every person. There are far too many variables for any one person to know or understand, so we must each have faith that laws, customs, mores and principles consistently will apply to the various situations in our lives. As has often been stated, each time we go out on the road in a vehicle, we need to have faith that other drivers will stay on their side of the road and will not run the next stoplight.

By definition, faith means to hold a "confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing" and to acknowledge that said beliefs "do not rest on logical proof or material evidence". In other words, faith is a belief in the validity of something without knowing for absolute certainty that this something is valid.

While faith is encompassed in all human interaction and institutions, it is most closely associated with religion. The followers of any given religious system have faith that their understanding of the world and beyond is THE correct understanding and, by virtue of this correct understanding, such followers will be in some way rewarded for holding to this faith.

By and large, the fundamentalists of any given religion -- those who cling to the old teachings and tend to not believe that changing circumstances necessitate changing time-honored doctrines -- place great emphasis on faith. In my estimation, however, the faith that they speak of is very shallow and one-dimensional.

For such fundamentalists, faith provides the key to salvation. They hold strongly to the belief that THEY will be pardoned for any earthly transgressions and will thus be welcomed into the halls of heaven or nirvana. They hold to a faith that the righteous will be rewarded when the end time comes by their deity or deities.

Yet, far too many of these very same people are the ones who most favor war, oppression, discrimination and hatred. It seems that their concept of faith only pertains to themselves, their family or group. In other words, their faith is exclusive, not inclusive.

They don't have faith in other people. They don't have faith in Mother Earth. They don't have faith in the collective consciousness. In actuality, they don't truly have a deep abiding faith in their own God because this entity created all of us and so all of us are part of that entity.

If you genuinely believe that humankind is created in the image of God, then how can you turn around and preach the destruction of some of those images? How can you show the steadfastness of your faith in the absoluteness of love by advocating for the misery and repression of some of God's children?

The simple answer is that you can't. To do so, contradicts the very faith you say you hold so dear.