irrationalityfaith is believing something even if there is not enough evidence to warrant belief. sometimes, faith goes so far as to be believing in something despite large amounts of evidence against that something. for example, many people have faith that the republican party has the best interests of the u.s. in mind (and is not in it for self-interests or the interests of rich friends), despite all the evidence to the contrary (that's just a little political humor there). there's not enough conclusive evidence to 100% absolutely necessitate belief in god. in fact, a lot of people don't believe, and the amount of evidence that is presented seems to be only the same amount of evidence as there is to believe in dwarves and fairies and extra-terrestrial abductions. all it requires is faith -- a choice to believe. of course, for many people, they've been brought up in a family and a society that advocates the belief in god, so they see nothing wrong with it. if they were brought up in a group that advocates gods, a goddess, goddesses, or alien overseers that live behind a comet, that's what they'd tend to have faith in. faith is inherently irrational. that's not necessarily an insult or a bad thing. all that is saying is a cold hard fact. since faith is an act of believing something without the necessary evidence to satisfy the reasonable doubt of the intellect, and since, in most cases, the religious faith comes about without even the smallest bit of doubt on the part of the believer (because the doubting intellect has been suspended and put off to the side), then it is not an act of reasoning. it is a leap of belief, a leap of faith. |
need for rational balancescience tries to maintain a degree of objectivity. it uses a method of rational observation and testing through repeated experimentation and gathering of empirical data. that's what we call the scientific method, and it's brought light bulbs shining to billions and medical wonders. i remember a class in constitution and government when the class was discussing jurisprudence. it was there, and not in the science classes, that he learned the value of refusing to believe something unless proven beyond reasonable doubt. thank god most judges don't decide based only on "faith." the point is, and this is expanded on by other essays, is that faith is a dangerous thing by itself. in that suspension of reason, there is irrationality, and if this is not modified by an appeal to objectivity, observation of experience, and reliance on scientific fact, then the result of faith can be lunacy. it is a shame that religion claims to edify and make people better when instead it can serve to paralyze people and make them backward-thinking, narrow-minded people. |
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