From: "Donna"
Subject: Faith vs. Atheism
I find your attempt to logically compare faith to athiesm somewhat amusing. Faith isn't logical, it just is. Therefore, it is illogical for you to compare the two. One interesting point you had though, was that faith could be a feeling . I believe you're correct. That is a kind of trust and conceivably be the gift of the Holy Spirit. Since man has often been wrong in his assumptions, and seems to need to explain everything , I would rather trust my intuition and keep my faith in God. Being a believer in Christ has been the best thing for me so far. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
If a racist said that they would rather trust their intuition and keep their faith that minorities are inferior, would Donna accept that as a valid argument? I wouldn't. I hope Donna wouldn't, either.
Donna is right that faith isn't logical - that's why any comparison I would make between faith and atheism would be unfavorable to faith. I would (and do) argue that an intellectually and morally relevant atheism is one that is based upon reason and critical thinking. Faith is the antithesis of those qualities and that is why I argue that it is a very poor means for acquiring beliefs. Faith is a god is, structurally speaking, no better than faith in the superiority of the white race or faith in the existence of ESP. If Donna values faith, then she cannot argue that someone else's faith is worse - it's just faith.
Re: Racists' Intuition. Every person is entitled to their "feelings", "intuition", whatever. I certainly wouldn't condone racism, It is against the tenets of my Faith. Conversely; If someone felt they had intuition to help someone in true need, should they ignore it, because of no hard evidence? I think not. It seems I was wrong in saying you compared Faith to atheism. I apologize for that. But I can't help but feel that you think of those of us who have Faith in what ever Deity as misguided. Because of my "intuition", I don't steal, try not to lie, love God, and love my neighbor as myself.
Donna seems to have missed my point. Mere Faith can lead to absolutely any conclusion, including that one shouldn't help someone in need. If Faith allows for everything and Faith is an accurate guide to what is True or Good, then absolutely everything is True and Good, including things which are mutually contradictory. So unless she wishes to try and claim that only her results of Faith are True and Good and that every other Faith that comes to different results is Bad, then she has a problem.
I think that people who have faith that a claim or idea is true based simply on faith are indeed misguided. I don't think that "faith" is any sort of reliable guide to deciding the value or competence of other races any more than it deciding if a god exists. Some races could, theoretically, be incompetent genetically. Some god could, theoretically, exist. But we won't discover such things simply by relying on intuition. If someone told her that minority X is genetically inferior, surely she wouldn't accept "Faith" as a justified basis for that claim. Most likely, she would point out that such a claim requires really good evidence.
Clearly, then, Donna doesn't accept that just because someone claims to believe something based upon faith that this belief must be true. Clearly, Donna thinks that some beliefs based upon faith are actually wrong. Faith cannot distinguish between true and false beliefs - with faith, all beliefs are equal. Reason and critical thinking can distinguish between beliefs that are more likely true and beliefs that are more likely false. They don't always provide correct answers, but they are a vastly superior guide to truth than faith.
I know that most atheists have their own moral code. Probably with most of the items I just mentioned. How do atheists know these are right, If not by Faith? Yes, it is wrong to lie, or murder. But Why? What is your hard evidence? If you say we would have chaos and no safety, this would be true. But if there is no God. Maybe that is man's true nature. Thankyou for listening and responding to my email. It is very enjoyable to converse with you. You really make me think. Please keep up yor articles. They are very interesting.
It isn't a matter of being "Right." It's a matter of valuing other human beings. If a god came down and told me what I was "Wrong" for such things and that it wanted me to steal, lie, and hurt others I simply wouldn't do it. Why? Because I value other human beings - my consideration for other people is not based upon what some god tells me to do, and therefore it can't change if some god told me to do otherwise.
If there is no god...what? It wouldn't change me - would it change her? Would Donna start lying, stealing, and hurting if she knew there was no god? Or would she continue on as a good person regardless of what a god might or might not tell her? If the latter, then she is a moral person and the god she believes in is ultimately irrelevant to her morality. If the former, then she isn't actually a moral person - she is just "obeying orders" from a being more powerful than her. Obeying an order to be nice is not morally superior to obeying an order to be mean - the results may be preferable, but situation for the obedient little robot is the same.
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