Can faith and reason co-exist?

Question

... or is faith measured with the degree of blindness with which people follow it?

Answer 1

It's interesting how some people claim to have both faith and reason. I think that truly reasonable people aren't interested in having faith, as faith is belief not based on reason, and faithfull people have never been able to reasonably explain their faith.

Answer 2

Faith and reason can and always have co-existed - but only up to a point.

There are rational arguments for believing in the existence of God, but we all know that if those arguments could be conclusively refuted, that would not spell the end of faith. The faithful would go on believing, because ultimately faith is *willfull* belief, not reasonable belief.

And always remember that there are fundamentalists who take their scriptures quite literally - very little reasoning with them.

"Scriptures, noun - The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinct from the false and profane writings upon which all other faiths are based." - Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary.

Answer 3

Sure they can, I am a living example of such. I am a Muslim with non-waivering beliefs and I am a man of science majoring in Math (which requires the highest degree of logic and reasoning than any other field). Since I am still sane, implies that reason and faith can perfectlywell co-exist. In fact, sciences themselves require a certain degree of faith.

For example, if you tell me that the speed of light is 299 792 458 m/s, how do you know this to be true? Did you actually go out and measure it yourself? Or you are just believing in something another person told you or just because you read it in a book. Sounds like religion to me.

What about having a brain or a heart in your body? How do you know you have one? Have you ever opened up your own body and looked at it? And yet, you are SO SURE that you have one...definitely sounds like faith to me.

Answer 4

Faith can exist where reason can find something likely to be true, based on our ability to conceive new information from information we already possess. But when there is no hard evidence, we call it faith.

Now, religion is a whole different thing..
Let me remind you that a lot of people believe in the science in a religious fashion too, meaning, dogmatic. You always have to remain critical. As long as you do that, and keep asking questions, rather than settling with answers, it's good and they can coexist.

Answer 5

Blindness... that's a harsh word, even for those of us who believe that faith is only there for those who ignore reason. Take the idea of God for example. "In God we trust", "In God we believe", etc. I often ask myself what is better: to acknowledge his existence by having absolutely no proof of it, by just believing, trusting, like you would trust a dear friend, a loved one, or should I look outside my windows and see so much life that by reason alone, I must admit that some greater being, some greater force, some entity needs to exist. Which is the right way? Can these two actually coexist? Reason would tell me that this entity might not be God, it might be energy, some spark of life, etc. faith tells me it is ok to believe it's God, or to call it that, because in the end... it doesn't even matter. It can be this or that, in the end it will matter if I am capable of trusting blindly, of letting go of all worries, of putting myself out there, allowing the world to see I am vulnerable because of my belief or if I am- not capable of any of these, if I still need proof. Can faith and reason coexist? 50/50 yes, but never totally.

Answer 6

Certainly they can co-exist. A perfect example is that many Christians simutaneously believe in evolution AND Creation. They reason that the "week" of creation as spelled out in the Bible was actually a time period of millions of years and not the literal 7 24 hour days some have interpreted it to be. These people have used Scientific data to support what they believe through FAITH.

That is not to say that some Christians cannot be temporarily led astray by convincing false prophets who use REASON to murk the waters of their FAITH. An example of this, is a cancer patient who has given up the hope of God working a miracle healing in their live because their oncologist has told them that without question, they WILL die of this disease.

Answer 7

Faith and reason are partners--they don't just co-exist.
Faith isn't built on blindness, either. Well, not the right kind of faith, anyway. But reason is a servant and not a master. And faith is a servant and not a master either.

Reason told the Wright Brothers they could build a heavier than air plane and fly--faith kept them at it.

Faith, for the Christian, is taking God at his Word. Reason says God is trustworthy. But God thinks in long terms and and faith keeps the Christian trusting.

Answer 8

I'm wondering about the same thing!!! Perhaps if one breaks down his/her faith with his/her reasoning, and comes to some kind of a conclusion that makes sense both in the reasoning and the faith, then faith and reason can probably co-exist. I haven't been able to achieve that, but there are people that probably have.

Answer 9

I think faith and reason are pretty much mutually exclusive, especially religious faith. If you have a belief that is supported by reason, then you have no need for faith. Likewise, if a belief you hold is sustained only by faith, then by definition you are not using reason to justify it.

It is possible to hold a belief which _can_be_ supported by reason, but you believe in it by faith alone. For instance, the notion that most humans are more good than evil. One could argue that it is true because otherwise, humans would have wiped themselves out long ago, and a majority of evil over good would make civilization all but impossible. But one could also choose to believe this notion on faith, for instance because you want it to be true, or your religion teaches that it's true.

Still, in the end, it's hard to imagine how one could hold a belief based on reason AND pure faith. It really seems contradictory to do so. I see occasional attempts of people to rationalize their faith-based beliefs when the belief they hold simply can't be supported by reason. Such rationalizations inevitably contain one or more logical fallacies. When people do this, I think at least on a subconscious level they realize that their belief has no foundation in reality, but try to rationalize it in order to lend it some little bit of credibility or authority. "Intelligent design" is one big example. ID is nothing but warmed-over creationism, but its proponents try to make it sound scientific in order to lend it the credibility that any other obvious creation myth wouldn't have.

Answer 10

i've got been raised Catholic. i've got faith that faith and reason might desire to co-exist, for faith to have any actual which potential to people. of direction, there could be some concerns (e.g., no rely if we'd desire to have faith that Mary become a virgin throughout the time of her existence) that can not be shown via reason -- and a few might say we'd desire to settle for as concerns of religion. yet i think of those concerns are the exception. as a rule, i do no longer think of faith ought to ever immediately contradict reason. on the different hand, reason ought to settle for its obstacles and comprehend that there are some concerns (e.g., why there is lifestyles in any respect fairly than nothingness) that it can not answer.