There are several definitions of faith, Mark Twain defined it humorously as belief in something you know ain’t true. Archie Bunker went a little cruder: Belief in something no one in his right mind would believe. Philosopher Bertrand Russel came closest though: Belief in something for which there is no evidence. I suggest it might be slightly sharpened to: Belief in something for which there is no proof. Many see the beauty of nature or other marvelous events as evidence there must be a god. Others see the existence of prejudice, hate and cruelty as contradictions. A man hears what he wants to hear.
There are things that we are told are so unbelievable they must be true. In politics we call it the big lie. Also known as the Goebbels’ strategy, because NAZI Joseph Goebbels basically admitted doing it deliberately. A lie repeated so often that it is all we hear, everyone is saying it, so it must be true, because no one would repeat it if it wasn’t. Actually no one would repeat it if they didn’t believe it, which is not quite the same thing.
In religion it’s called a miracle. Many miracles can be explainable if you fill in the details, and make some adjustments. For example, the Burning Bush that was not consumed (Exodus 3:1). A natural gas leak ignited by lightning will envelop a bush, but the gas rich flame has no surplus oxygen to burn the wood. This is a test that blacksmiths use to determine if their forge has the right reducing atmosphere to minimize oxidation of the iron. The parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14: 19) sounds a lot like a tsunami. Many more stories were simply embellished in countless retellings before they were actually written down
Faith can be used for good, or misused for evil. Populist dictators manipulate people’s faith, hope and fear to acquire power. They make a lot of promises based on what is heard on the street. They will follow the crowd until it’s clear where the crowd is going, then run to the head of the line and declare: See where I lead you. They take credit for what was going to happen anyway.
Early success or claims of success then reinforce the people’s faith in the populist leader’s ability to deliver more of what they said they wanted. Meanwhile the dictator amasses power in many ways until he (or she) controls everything.
Faith can help people endure misfortune, which is good if the misfortune is unavoidable, or temporary like a natural disaster, or the Hebrews following Moses to the land of milk and honey (Exodus). It can also be used to placate people to accept misfortune like poverty due to bad governance rather than organize them to overcome problems.
Even capitalism is based in part on faith. Faith that what has been working for the last 300 years or, at least since Adam Smith’s Wealth Of Nations, will continue for another century or longer. Loss of faith in the parts of the economy, like banks, contributed to the great depression. The evidence is that capitalism continues to work, but proof is hard to come by.
Evidence must be based on observable truth, like science experiments that always have the same result. Otherwise, we’re back to blind faith. The boss said it, I believe it, thatsettles it. But what if the boss or leader is wrong, or worse lying. This is why we need in addition to faith, education, so that the people are able to examine what they are told or shown to recognize conjecture and misinformation. Education must include critical thinking, rather than rote memorization of teachers teaching only what they were taught. Does a factoid make sense or does it contradict other known things, like science or experience? Does the story we are being told have internal contradictions? Is ancient concept being accepted as proof without confirmation, just because it was good enough for Grandpa?
Finally, once you have filtered all of that, it’s good to have faith in yourself
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Send feedback to obenskik@gmail.com
