This question is not whether one should or should not have faith or if faith is good or bad. I am only asking whether or not faith is rational or irrational, and why?
2007-04-23 04:13:31 · 23 answers · asked by Eleventy 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Speaking of religious faith, being different from hope and trust based on previous example, I would say it is irrational, as it requires only the shared belief of others to justify it. I find it disappointing that the faithful of various faiths reject so completely the idea that their faith is irrational, as if its being so makes them somehow deficient. If one has hard evidence for the explanation of their cosmology, then they are not faithful. Evidence destroys the necessity of faith, and makes it simple observation. Faith's only value is in being irrational.
2007-04-24 08:04:51 · answer #1 · answered by Lao Pu 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
confident. Irrational faith is a faith which hides itself from the sunshine of information, information and experience. Irrational faith is the type that gets disillusioned by employing scientific discoveries, secular scholarship of the Bible, thinking, etc. Rational faith is a faith that hopes, and seeks reality everywhere this is chanced on. Rational faith welcomes scientific discoveries, scholarly exploration and healthful thinking and skepticism as procedures for growth of information. i could say that the main distinction between rational and irrational faith is that one is open to growth and the different isn't.
2016-10-13 06:48:25 · answer #2 · answered by lishego 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Faith is not bad, and given a situation where you don't know the outcome, wouldn't it be rational to hope for the best? At that moment you rationalize to yourself that faith is all you got, and although it is not scientific, why would you ever give up your will to succeed?
2007-04-23 04:24:13 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you apply rational thought and reason to the subject of faith you have to come to the conclusion that it is irrational to believe in something that has no solid evidence and is just based on unreliable Bronze Age hearsay, tradition and indoctrination.
2007-04-23 04:24:25 · answer #4 · answered by CHEESUS GROYST 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That would depend on the basis of the faith. If it is based on how the person happens to feel that day--like 'O gee, that sounds pretty, I think I'll believe that'--then no, that faith is not rational. If it is based on some reasonable evidence that would persuade a person that it is actually true, then it is rational.
2007-04-23 04:20:00 · answer #5 · answered by kess 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Religious faith I think is irrational. Not bad, not wrong, but not rational. I think JP said emotional rather than logical.
Which is why I get all nanky when someone says "what would it take to prove it to you?" The answer is it can't be proved rationally, logically or scientifically.
Like any form of love I guess. I know I love my husband and he loves me, but I certainly can't prove it.
2007-04-23 11:30:29 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
A good question. I'd say faith isn't by it's nature irrational. Faith can be belief without evidence. It need not be belief in spite of evidence.
I can clearly picture a person of faith not allowing his belief to run counter to reason, not to be contradictory.
2007-04-23 10:44:17 · answer #7 · answered by Herodotus 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am a Christian, but have to say that faith is irrational! It makes no sense to the mind (at first)... it is difficult to come up with hard proof - faith seems silly to those who haven't had any kind of experience with Him...
2007-04-23 04:19:07 · answer #8 · answered by Laura S 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Faith is rational. Aside from religion in order to accomplish any dream, any goal in life, we must have faith it will succeed. In order to maintain a friendship or a love relationship with anyone, we must have faith they will not hurt us. Faith is more than about believing in God. Most people who lack the ability to have faith, will never go anywhere in this life.
The Skeptical Christian
Grace and Peace
Peg
2007-04-23 04:16:20 · answer #9 · answered by Dust in the Wind 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It all depends on what you're putting that faith into.
If you're blindly putting your faith into an imaginary cereal box god who has never shown himself or given you anything in life..... yes, it's irrational. But if you are putting your faith in a real person that you can trust, it is not irrational.
I have very strong faith in my fiancee, and in my family! It is not irrational to have faith in those around you, but it is irrational to have faith in something which does not exist.
2007-04-23 04:20:21 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋