Comments on: Taking Faith on Faith

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Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:33:48 +0000

folk art for sale

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by: Peter Gaffney

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:04:16 +0000

I see true religious faith as closer to commitment than to belief. It is essentially a mental move away from identification with the personal ego and toward the unknowable holy Other. It’s an abdication of will and desire, not of intelligence. (It is incidentally a relinquishment of all certainty.) The utter unknowability of the object of faith is generally a given, so ultimately true faith has no particular content.

by: Losing Faith: When Belief is all of Religion at Thudfactor

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 15:23:59 +0000

[…] And Maha, the Buddhist, says: In Buddhism, for example, faith is a means, not an end. Faith in most of the Asian religions is faith in practice, not faith in doctrine or God. Doctrines are not to be “believed in,” but understood. Faith and doubt working together can lead to wisdom, or not, but faith is not wisdom itself. In fact, faith without doubt is a dead end as far as the quest for wisdom is concerned. Faith without doubt means you’ve given up the quest and filled your head with an ideology instead of genuine understanding. [ Taking Faith on Faith ] […]

by: The Mahablog » The Wisdom of Doubt: The Series

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 12:40:30 +0000

[…] “Taking Faith on Faith” […]

by: Swami

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:31:27 +0000

Which leads me to the problem I have with using the word faith as a synonym for religion.

The reason why Christians use the term faith as opposed to religion is to distance themselves from the shameful history of Christianity. The now in vogue term is a “relationship” with god..that way one can circumvent collective responsibility for the behaviour of the religion. Much like people who pride themselves in the Confederate battle flag, and call it heritage. But when asked about the smallest detail of historical fact concerning the Confederacy..they’re willfully clueless.

by: Doug Hughes

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 02:35:50 +0000

There is a lot of childish thinking in American Christianity. Grown up people who have been going to church for decades think of God as a cross between 1) the source of all good power 2) a stern parential figure and 3) Santa Claus. The ‘faith’ in the ‘Santa Claus’ feature of God’s personality leads Christians to seek spiritual politicians (a contradiction in terms, I admit)..

The hope is that a leader who is favored by God will be able to manifest (magical thinking) peace, prosperity & good health for all. Thus people who will select a plumber or A/C repairman based on reputation & qualifications throw logic out the window when voting??!!!

So when I vote, it will be an action as informed as I can make it, with a study of the problems we face and the proposed solutions the candidates have put forth. When I am done, I will pray I made a good choice, but I promise, it will be an informed, reasoned and deliberate one.

I am in favor of God stepping in and sloving the problems of poverty, global warming, and injustice in the same way I favor aliens landing and using technology and the knowledge of 1000 different worlds to lead us to reason. I’ll take either one, but I don’t expect it nor will I plan on it.

by: erinyes

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:32:23 +0000

Exceptional post. Great comment Bill in ohio.

by: Marshall

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 23:04:31 +0000

Political movements become anti-intellectual because they understand at some level, perhaps unconsciously, that their beliefs cannot withstand scrutiny. I am reminded of the Maoists and their attacks on “stinking intellectuals.”

What is really amazing is that the journalists in this country go along with this. Do they really think that they will be exempt just because they participate in the destruction of the intellectual underpinning of their craft ?

And, just for me, the more a politician talks about faith, the more they decline in my evaluation.

by: r4d20

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 19:59:41 +0000

Maha,

I was thinking about the different meanings of “faith” yesterday myself. Specifically, the contrast between

(a) “faith” as in “I have faith that God will answer my prayers” -and-
(b) “faith” as in “I have faith the God knows best and will do what is best even if it means NOT answering my prayers”.

No matter how I look at it, the first type of “faith”, which seems to be the meaning of many fundamentalists, is so shallow and childish. Its like the “faith” you might have that the elevator cable wont snap and send you plummeting downwards as you ride up to work in the morning. I have that “faith” because Ive ridden it so many times and accidents like that are uncommon, but I certainly dont credit the elevator with intelligence or wisdom or anything close to “Godliness”. Taken to the extreme it becomes the opposite of faith - the “faith that God will defer to my superior judgement” is NOT what was meant by “faith in God” in any way, shape, or form. Sadly, it seems to be the faith that is most popular.

anyways Im rambling and have to get back to work.

by: Kiwiwannabe

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 19:24:46 +0000

I really enjoy your blog, Maha. Keep up the great work.

In relation to this post, all I have to say for Christians who think their “religiosity” must be shouted from the rooftops, put on a bumper sticker or t-shirt, or whatever is this: Matthew 6:6.