Re: religion bashing?
Aaron Davidson (ajd@ualberta.ca)
Thu, 21 Oct 1999 19:03:23 -0600
>I have noticed that many people on this list engage in "religion
>bashing". Most of the accusations against religion on this list are
>unfounded or unfair. For example, ridiculing "faith" as belief in
>something regardless of proof purposely ignores the meaning most people
>use for the word.
What other meaning of the word faith is there?
I have never heard anyone properly use the word faith in any other way --
religious or not.
Science has faith at its foundations as well. Science puts faith in a few
fundamental assumptions -- universality, inductive proofs, etc...
The difference between a science and a religion is that science does
everything it can possibly do to minimize the amount of faith needed.
Religions are generally based on faith in excess.
http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=faith
- Belief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by
another, resting solely and implicitly on his authority and veracity;
reliance on testimony.
- The assent of the mind to the statement or proposition of another, on
the ground of the manifest truth of what he utters; firm and earnest
belief, on probable evidence of any kind, especially in regard to important
moral truth.
- That which is believed on any subject, whether in science, politics, or
religion; especially (Theol.), a system of religious belief of any kind;
as, the Jewish or Mohammedan faith; and especially, the system of truth
taught by Christ; as, the Christian faith; also, the creed or belief of a
Christian society or church.
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| Aaron Davidson <ajd@ualberta.ca> http://ugweb.cs.ualberta.ca/~davidson/ |
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