Do You Have Blind Faith? Blind Faith vs. Reasonable Faith

Are you following your religion blindly? Do you divorce your logic and reason from your religious convictions? Certain people seem to do that and teach others the same: that there is a dichotomy between faith and reason. The fundamentalists and certain atheists are wrong about this. It is so outdated and such a caricature of faith that it is frustrating to explain it. But because the question of "is faith blind?" comes up again and again, we need to address it.

Tertullian famously asked, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” or what has reason or logic to do with faith or religion?

Key Ideas in Brief

• The False Dichotomy: Faith and reason are not mutually exclusive; theology requires intellectual engagement. 
• The Nature of Evidence: Blind faith vs reasonable faith is distinguished by the presence of evidence, critique, and logic. 
• Linguistic Roots: The definition of Biblical faith is rooted in the concepts of trust and confidence (Pistis and Emunah) rather than a "malicious charade". 
• A Mature Perspective: An informed faith is a confidence that leads to action, even without immediate demonstrable certainty.

Is Religion Mindless?

It is easy to pick apart random non-thinking masses who are religious and assume that the entire edifice of religion is mindless as well. We can pick out mindless atheists and assume all atheists are like them. That is not fair; it is a false generalization and a logical fallacy. So, is religion mindless?

There are many schools of thought on the issue of faith and reason.

Not all embrace a dichotomy of one over the other, as many atheists like Dr. Peter Boghossian, Philosophy Instructor at Portland State University and author of A Manual for Creating Atheists, believe. Boghossian writes, “faith is pretending to know what you don’t know”.

Trent Horn is right in his critique of this view. He wrote that Boghossian is mischaracterizing faith:

Blind Faith vs. Informed Faith

What about false religious beliefs? Yes, these are possible! See here. Even cult members and the vast overwhelming majority of world religious adherents would have “mistaken beliefs” instead of “pretending to know what he knows”. Most of these people would be sincerely wrong according to atheism, not pretending to know what they don’t. Boghossian builds his whole argument on this straw-man argument, attempting to demolish a belief that believers in God (especially theistic ones) do not even hold!

Not all believers check their brains at the door when they embrace their religion.  See Reasonable Faith a critique of this book and its Strawman arguments.

G.K. Chesterton wrote that “theology is simply that part of religion that requires brains”.

Faith, as understood by the Biblical texts, is not unwarranted, unjustified, or blind belief. That is a caricature of faith.

What is the difference when we compare blind faith vs reasonable faith?

• Blind Faith: Believing without evidence, without reason, and without any critique. It is as foolish as buying a house without seeing it or knowing the exact price or location. While some believers have this kind of faith, it is not a mature or informed faith.
• Reasonable Faith: This is a faith based on evidence. It is a "belief in" rather than merely a "belief that". This comparison of blind faith vs informed faith shows that a mature conviction requires a foundation of truth. A great blog on this is here.

The Definition of Biblical Faith

The Biblical word for faith is Pistis in Greek (used 228 times in the New Testament) and Emunah in Hebrew (occurs 49 times in the Old Testament). The definition of Biblical faith is best understood as trust or confidence in someone.

Hebrews 11:1 states: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.

The Greek words behind assurance (hypostasis) and conviction (elenchos) are multivalent.

Many scholars have attempted word studies of these many-faceted words with varying results. However, faith is a confidence (assurance) and conviction by which people act without seeing immediate results — it is a form of trust in a person.

This trust or faith does not necessarily involve cognitive or demonstrable certainty. Rather, it causes Christians to act in ways that are inexplicable to those without that trust. [See Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments, ed. Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997).]

Is faith blind? No.

Faith is not blind; unbelief is blind (John 9:38–41). Faith is seeing a reality that physical eyes can’t see and believing it (1 Peter 1:8).

See this for more.

If one is interested in pursuing the truth about this idea, rather than ideology and perpetual misunderstandings, consider the work of Reasons to Believe. They have wonderful resources showing that faith, the Biblical kind, does require reason.

For something more academic, I strongly recommend the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.

What do you think? Is it ever reasonable to believe blindly?

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