Just a quick post to assure any regular readers I might have that I am not dead and have not lost interested in blogging. I’m currently buried under a stack of exhibition catalogs and bound volumes of Artforum while I work on writing up all of the research I’ve done in the past year in order to complete my thesis. It’s slow going and is taking up what little time I used to use for blogging. Anyway, that’s my excuse.
Last night my husband and I watched Religulous, the investigative documentary about religion made by Bill Maher. There was one question he asked several times, and none of those he interviewed gave a real, clear answer: Why is it a virtue to have faith? Maher would ask people why they believed in God or the Bible or the Koran or whatever else, and the most common answer was, “I just have faith. You have to have faith.” Okay. But why? Why is faith a good thing? Why should we have faith in anything at all?
I was reminded of a very awkward conversation I had with my father a few years ago regarding the US government engaging in torture. My father, a devout Christian, devout conservative, and devout Republican told me that I simply had to trust that the government was doing what is best for its people, and that it knows more about any given situation than we do. In other words, he told me that I just had to have faith that my government was always in the right, and not question their actions or motives. If that notion doesn’t set alarm bells off in your head, something is wrong. It is the people’s responsibility to keep their government in check, to always question and challenge. If we give up our ability to investigate and dissent, we might as well be living under a king, a patriarch who knows what’s best, or worse, under a fascist dictator who knows what’s best.
This attitude that we must trust our government and have faith that it is working for the greater good is exactly how the religious say we must react to God. Just as my father assumed that the government was engaging in torture because they had good reason — they knew something that the lay person doesn’t know — the religious tell us that we must trust God because of his ultimate knowledge, so far above our own, and the belief that he is making plans to prosper us rather than to harm us (God works in mysterious ways! God’s ways are not our own!). But what evidence do we have to support these claims? History shows that government, our own included, does not always work for the greater good. And as for the evidence for the benevolence of God, there is nothing outside of the Bible (and even that does a very poor job of establishing God as completely good), which means there is nothing outside of a weak circular argument. If you want a counter-argument, just consider the random and destructive harshness of nature.
Why should I have faith in the government, or anything else for that matter? Should I? Probably not. Faith is something which should be earned. It should be based on a foundation of evidence. If you give it away for free you are naive, foolish, and frankly, a sucker.
Is it a virtue to put your faith freely (without sufficient evidence) in a bank that hands out an impossible too-good-to-be-true loan, and promises that you will be able to make your mortgage payments, even if you are pretty sure they are wrong? No. We learned that lesson the hard way.
Is it a virtue to put your faith freely in a wealthy Nigerian businessman who randomly emails you, promising you a large sum of money if you simply give him your bank account information? No. It’s a good way to flush your savings account down the toilette, though.
Is it a virtue to put your faith (and money) in a psychic who promises to help you find your missing child? Not if you want to learn the truth.
Where is there an instance, outside of religion, where it is considered virtuous to grant total faith without first establishing that the faith should be given, and is appropriate? I can’t think of a single instance. So why is it a virture to give faith to God when he has failed repeatedly to meet the minimal requirement, to provide sufficient evidence to assure us that he is worthy of faith?
March 11, 2009 at 5:24 am |
I think the religious would argue that their “evidence” is their relationship with God, and that that relationship establishes that their faith is appropriate. That, of course, is little comfort to those of us who would love to have a relationship with God, but have felt nothing that one would expect to feel in a relationship.
But I do think that for those with faith, their own firm belief that they are in a two-way relationship with God is enough. And I dare say, if I felt that I were in a two-way relationship, it would be enough to convince me. My problem arises in praying but feeling like no one is listening. Reading the Bible and finding more confusion and questions than answers. Examining a faith that is supposed to change lives, but witnessing little difference between things with “Christian” labels and things with secular labels.
I’m having a hard time understanding how, if God wrote a book, He did it in such a way that virtually no one can agree on anything. I’m having a hard time understanding how, if God wrote a book, devout Christians like your parents and mine can justify torture and still claim to live by that book.
March 12, 2009 at 10:05 pm |
I’m sorry you’re having to work all of this stuff out, Chris. It’s not a fun journey, but it is one that some of us simply have to embark upon.
I think the religious would argue that their “evidence” is their relationship with God, and that that relationship establishes that their faith is appropriate.
Sure, but we both know that personal anecdotes don’t really count as evidence. I’d like to hear something else in defense of faith, but I suppose this is just like anything else in religion: it all boils down to nothing more than feelings and anecdotes.
March 20, 2009 at 10:48 pm |
This is a really nice post, orDover. I like how you tied virtuosity and faith together to show that giving ones trust to someone who has not shown their trustworthiness is considered foolish except traditionally in an authoritarian system. Well done!
March 27, 2009 at 3:05 pm |
Good post orDover. I never cease to be amazed at the ability of people to put faith in government despite the NUMEROUS, CLEAR examples of government failing to come though and even betraying us.
Chris, On the relationship thing; there’s a post I made on the de-conversion.com blog site called, “A Personal Relationship with Jesus?” It points up the absurdity of thinking one has a personal relationship with deity. As with so much other religious stuff, I have a hard time understanding how I ever thought I had a relationship with Jesus/God.
July 29, 2009 at 1:41 pm |
If you realy are a christian and a person who believes in creation,you will not ask questions that are beyound your understanding.You will have to do away with your thoughts and only obey.
August 7, 2009 at 4:33 pm |
why is it so hard to have faith in God?