Your Faith! Where is it? Introduction

Over the next days, weeks I will be introducing some thoughts about faith.  It is my position that each human being has a measure of faith and they put their faith in something.  The dialogue will consist of delving into what science is, should be; what religion is, should be; and how philosophy can help to bring these things together.

This work will have many parts as it is long and I do not care to bore you with a book.  I will also, at times, take a break from this discussion to interject other thoughts and debates as they arise.  As always, I would love to know what you guys think about the information presented.

Here is Part 1: Your Faith!  Where is it?

Introduction

              When I started this work I knew it was going to be a broad overview of many topics to get to a clear and concise understanding of what faith is to people and what faith ought to be.  It is impossible for someone to know exactly what they are putting their faith in if they do not realize that on so many levels they are applying faith.  

              The purpose of this work is not to give an overall view of religion, philosophy, or science; I use all of these concepts and constructs to focus on the overall theme of the essay.  This is not supposed to be an exhaustive work on any one of these topics nor is it an exhaustive work on any particular religion, philosophy or scientific discipline.   There are many books that go into such details and if you find any particular detail in this work of interest or worth further investigation then the purpose of this work has been realized.   As I approach each topic the goal is to use logic and reason to present consistencies and difficulties within the subject being discussed.   The reason I have decided to do this is because it helps to clarify foundational things.  In the process of clarifying these things it gives us a better understanding, a clear path to see if the root of something is worth putting faith into. 

              I choose to focus on science, religion and philosophy because these are the typical constructs that frame our beliefs.  Each discipline has its place and purpose in our lives and society at large.  Many problems arise when each discipline over steps its bounds into the other disciplines purpose.  The problem is worth investigating because of two reasons.  One, as mentioned earlier, we all put our faith in something, based on our belief about these topics.  Two, if we could reconcile the value of each discipline and allow it to have the proper place in our lives and society it could possibly make for a more cohesive individual and society.

              Another reason for this work is to put in print what I teach in my religions classes.    My students know that I don’t care about “fluff” as they call it.  They tell me that though my class requires them to “work harder” than they “have to work” for their “core classes and this class is just an elective”; they find it to be “more valuable than” their “other classes”.  Not everyone loves my class, but most do.  

My hope is to give people a chance to truly be real with themselves and others.   We all have faith, and the question is where do we put our faith?  Buddha taught about the way to enlightenment, Jesus taught about the way to eternal life, faith based atheism teaches us the natural origins for life is the best known answer.  Are they all right or wrong?  Is it worth our time to care about such things?