Is Religious Faith Circular Reasoning?

I frequent Richard Dawkin's website just to keep up with what the debate on atheism. The forums can get pretty hot over there. I read a comment by a Christian that stated, "Faith is the opposite of fear", to which I can only agree. An atheist replied, "No, faith is the opposite of reason!". That was an "a-ha!" moment for me - I suddenly realized why so many atheists mock "faith". They don't undertand what it is - they've got their own definition. They're attacking a straw man. Sadly, walk into a church today and it's surprisingly hard to find anyone who understands what faith is. If faith were what this particular atheist thinks it is, I would mock it too.

So what is faith? Is it:

1. Geographic/Cultural/Family Background Determinism - "I was raised that way"?

So if you'd been raised a Hindu would the "truth" have turned out differently?

2. Circular Reasoning - "I read it, so it must be true." ?

"I know the Bible is true because the Bible says the Bible is true, and since the Bible never lies, it must be telling the truth when it says it's the truth; therefore...")

"I know the Koran is true because the Koran says the Koran is true, and since the Koran never lies, it must be telling the truth when it says it's the truth; therefore..."

"I know the [insert holy book here] is true because the [insert holy book here] says the [insert holy book here] is true, and since the [insert holy book here] never lies, it must be telling the truth when it says it's the truth; therefore..."

3. Hell Insurance - "I'm afraid not to believe." ?

Since the idea of rotting in the grave is not nearly as scary as the idea of burning in Hell forever, isn't believing the safest thing to do? Believing in what? Couldn't a Muslim say the same thing?

Any 'faith' that can't distinguish between two contradictory belief systems is not one I'd be willing to bet my soul on.

Genuine Faith

Ironically, the best illustration of what Christian faith was meant to be (in my understanding) came from an atheist, Carl Sagan. Here is a quote from Dr. Arroway, a character in his novel "Contact":

"My faith says that the amplitude of a free pendulum--how far it'll swing away from the vertical position--can never increase. It can only decrease. I'm willing to go out there, put the bob in front of my nose, let go, have it swing away and then back toward me. If my beliefs are in error, I'll get a five-hundred-pound pendulum smack in the face. Come on. You want to test my faith?"

Click here for more passages from "Contact" dealing with the relationship between faith and reason.

Dr. Arroway proceeded to pass her test of faith (although it gave her quite a scare to see that five-hundred-pound pendulum rushing at her face). Of course she had no faith in God, but she did have faith in the laws of physics - genuine faith, although not a saving faith (because the laws of physics can't get you into Heaven!). This example illustrates two ingredients which I believe are characteristic of a strong, genuine faith:

(1) It has a reasonable basis (there must be enough evidence to indicate that it is more likely than not to be true).

(2) It requires courage (after all, you can't see the 'laws of physics any more than you can see God!).

Another story I once heard that illustrates faith quite well involves a man and his wife being taken on a tour of the U.S. Mint in Denver. The guide brought out a pail of molten metal and told them that if you wet your finger with saliva, you could dip your finger in the pail without burning yourself as long as you removed it quickly. Then he asked them if they wanted to try. The husband begged off: "I believe you, but..." The wife just smiled, wet her finger, and dipped it in into the pail.

The husband didn't think the guide was a liar - he believed him (as the term "believe' has been defined in modern times), but only the wife had faith. That illustrates the third feature of what I understand genuine faith to be:

(3) It always responds with action.

Faith is not created by action (in fact it must precede the action), but action is the only way to prove it - to yourself or to anyone else.

So how can a Christian have faith that the Bible is true without resorting to the cowardly exercise in circular reasoning described above? I would argue that it must begin with sceptcism - reason, believe it or not (and no, atheists do not have a copyright on either of those words). Scepticism doesn't mean "I only believe what I can see." Some (not all) atheists are pseudo-sceptics - "I don't believe in God because I can't see him". But they believe in radio waves, electrons, magnetism... Rather, sceptiscim means "prove it to me". And the stronger the original scepticism, the stronger the resulting faith will be. Reason is not neccessarily science, strictly speaking - all science is reason, but not all reason is science.

I don't believe in God because the Bible says so. Rather, I believe the Bible is true because God says so. I couldn't believe until I had outside corroboration - I needed evidence from outside the Bible in order to believe that the Bible was true (for details on the nature of this evidence, see my blook Warrior Poet).

Any commentators out there? Anyone of any belief is welcome to comment. Why do you believe whatever it is that you believe? What do you think faith is?

Next Post on this subject: The Microevolution vs. Macroevolution Distinction: Is It Artificial?