What is Faith, How to Have More Faith, and How to Lose Your Faith
Content Updated on September 26, 2007
My Definition of Faith
faith: Believing that something is true.
Everyone Has Faith in Something
- Most humans have faith in their perceptions (e.g. I perceive that right now I'm in my house, sitting next to my child on my couch, typing on my laptop, and writing an essay about faith.)
- Most non-religious people have faith in science
- Most Jews have faith in the Torah
- Most Christians have faith in the Holy Bible
- Most Muslims have faith in the Quran
- Most Hindus have faith in the Vedas
- Most Buddhists have faith in the Four Nobel Truths and the Eightfold Path
- Most Taoists have faith in the Tao Te Ching
Can We Choose to Have Faith?
We cannot choose to have or not to have faith in something. Our faith comes from our ability to reason about evidence. We can only develop faith in something when we have enough evidence to to support it. The more evidence we have to support a belief, the more faith we have in it.
We have faith in some things instinctually. For example, babies have faith that what they see is real, just as what they hear, smell, taste, and touch are real. Babies also instinctually have faith that somebody who smiles at them is friendly and somebody who makes angry facial expressions is not friendly. But faith isn't always instinctual.
We learn to have faith in some things by repeated experience with cause and effect. For example, I throw a red ball in the air, and it falls back down. I throw it up again, and it falls down again. Through inductive reasoning, I eventually develop faith that the next time I throw the red ball up, it will fall back down because that's what I have observed before. Our conclusions from inductive reasoning may develop into generalizations. I may develop a generalization that all balls fall back down when thrown in the air, so every time I throw any ball, not just the red ball, up in the air, I will have faith that it will fall back down.
We may also learn to have faith in something through deductive reasoning. For example, if I develop a generalization that everything my mother tells me is true, and my mother tells me that every time I throw a ball up in the air, it will fall back down, then I will develop faith that the if I throw a ball up, it will come back down, even if I have never thrown a ball or seen a ball thrown up in the air before.
How Do We Lose Faith?
Just as we cannot choose to have faith in something, we also cannot choose to lose faith in something. We lose our faith in something when we have enough evidence to support that it is not true or when we lack enough evidence to support that it is true.
For example, if a baby has faith that somebody who smiles at them is friendly, but then repeatedly a smiling person hurts the baby, the baby will lose their faith in the friendliness of people who smile.
If I have faith that every ball I throw up will fall back down, the only way for me to lose my faith in that belief is to get evidence that proves that not every ball will fall back down when I throw it in the air. I can learn this by throwing a ball up in the air and witness it not coming down (perhaps because somebody catches it, it's filled with helium, or the ball and I are in a microgravity environment). I can also learn this if my mother, whom I believe always tells me the truth, tells me that some balls don't fall back down when you throw them up in the air.
How Do We Develop Faith in Religion?
Faith in religion typically develops with deductive reasoning.
Children typically learn to have faith in a religion from their parents. If children learn to have faith that their parents always tell them the truth, and their parents tell them that certain religious beliefs are true, then those children will likely develop faith in those religious beliefs.
Adult converts of a religion often learn to have faith in that religion by witnessing cause and effect. For example, if a religious leader says, "I can predict the future because I've been chosen by God," and then that person successfully predicts the future (regardless of how he predicted the future), then that may be enough evidence for some people to be convinced that the religious leader has actually been chosen by God.
A person may develop faith in a religion after learning that many of the teachings of that religion match beliefs that they already have. The convert assumes that if most of the teachings of the religion affirm what they already believe, then other teachings in that religion must also be valid. For example, if a person discovers that a certain religious text contains many references to beliefs that he already holds as true, and there is a passage in the text that declares that everything in the religious text is true, then this person may believe that everything in the text must be true.
Individuals may even develop faith in a religious belief by experiencing hallucinations (e.g. seeing spiritual beings, hearing voices, smelling scents that are interpreted as good or evil, feeling somebody touch them, etc.) and believing that they are real.
The more evidence a person has to support a religious belief, the stronger their faith is in the belief.
How Do We Lose Faith in Religion?
We lose faith in a religion when we have enough evidence to support that the religious teachings are not true.
For many people who lose faith in a religion, this begins when they must resolve conflicting beliefs. For example, if I believe that my religious text must be followed literally, and I believe that slavery is morally wrong, and I discover a passage in my religious text that in some way condones slavery, then I have a conflict that must be resolved. If I continue to believe that my religious text must be followed literally, then I'll have to change my beliefs about slavery. If I continue to believe that slavery is immoral, then I must change my beliefs about following my religious text literally. Followers who stick to the belief that slavery is immoral are more likely to change their belief that the religious text must be followed literally. To do this, they may say that the text should instead be interpreted figuratively or they may disregard such passages in the text. The more conflicts a follower must resolve by changing their religious beliefs, the more likely that follower will lose faith in the religion.
A person may also lose faith if new beliefs cast doubt on old beliefs. For example, a woman who has had hallucinations of hearing the voice of God or an angel talking to her may begin to doubt the validity of those voices if she discovers that she has a mental disorder that causes hallucinations. Or for another example, a man who felt a tingling in his hands, feet, and face during a healing service and thought it was the sensation of divine power surging through him may later dismiss the experience as nothing more than the symptoms of hyperventilation caused by excitement after learning about such symptoms during a health class.
The Benefits of Faith in Religion
When religious beliefs help followers feel better about their lives, such beliefs may improve the quality of life for those followers. Having hope for the future or believing that their suffering is meaningful or justified helps them cope with the stress of negative events and daily obstacles.
When religious beliefs promote charity and community, such beliefs can improve the quality of life for everyone in society as well as give the religion's followers a sense of importance through contribution and the confidence to improve life and provide hope for the future through their own efforts.
The Dangers of Faith in Religion
The problem with having faith in certain religious beliefs is that those beliefs may be harmful. Followers of such religious teachings may harm themselves or others while thinking that their actions are actually the right thing to do. For example, followers of such beliefs may deny basic human rights to other people because of race, age, sex, gender identity, sexual preferences, occupation, education level, income level, lifestyle, alternate religious beliefs, etc. They may forcefully try to convince others to convert to their religious beliefs. They may torture animals because they believe animals don't have emotions, can't feel pain, or are insignificant. They may even abuse or murder themselves, their own children, people of other cultures, etc. because they think that doing so will make life better or please their god.
Does Questioning Beliefs Mean that You Don't Have Faith?
Because of the dangers of naively having faith in harmful religious beliefs, every person must scrutinize their religious beliefs.
Any belief that contradicts your current beliefs must be judged using an abundance of evidence. The only way to obtain such evidence is to increase your knowledge and understanding of all aspects of the situation. To do so, you must question the validity of your beliefs as well as the validity of all alternate beliefs. You must learn as much as you can about as many things as you can, especially science, history (from all possible viewpoints), philosophy, and other religions.
This can be a frightening experience, especially for anyone who practices a religion that teaches that you shouldn't question religious authority or that any alternate beliefs are tricks by an evil power. However, it is important to remember that the truth will shine through. Ruthlessly questioning beliefs will only further validate beliefs that are true and reveal the holes in the beliefs that are not, both of which will strengthen your faith in what seems most true.
So questioning our beliefs actually leads to stronger faith in beliefs that hold true as well as in new beliefs that triumph over old false ones.
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