17 April 2008

Faith & Evidence

Been doing a little reading and thought this might be something worth pondering among friends or a broader audience...

The statement of "faith being inversely proportional to evidence" is interesting for its simplicity!

Simply, with more evidence we would need a corresponding reduction in the amount of faith required to support an argument. In contrast, where there is a reliance on faith there is the inference that the position being proferred lacks sufficient evidence.

I pose this faith & evidence question with respect to God and religion. I only do so because I recently read a statement to the effect that "when are human beings going to acknowledge that the presence of God is all around us"...I am not sure what presence needs to be acknowledged here but I am guessing that it refers to the idea that the world in which we live had to be created and that it could not just "be"!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Islam: What the West Needs to Know

Connie

Rob Baiton said...

Thanks Connie!

Unknown said...

I'm sure its true, the more you have of one the less you require of the other. The term "blind faith" springs to mind, blind to everything, especially the evidence.
The other way, if you have all the answers who needs the faith, right.
Like most bell curves the majority fall in the middle, thank "GOD"

Cheers
GJ

Rob Baiton said...

Ahhhhhh, the dreaded bell curves... the last time I gave serious consideration to a bell curve was in high school 'cause I was on the wrong side of the bastard in terms of getting a good grade...

I refuse to use 'em when I teach and grade my students. Whatever mark you get that is what goes in the report :)

Anonymous said...

it's interesting that i have no words to comment on this.
woow.

i am a person of my faith, but i kinda educated (education=in search of evidence).

but i guess, in my case for very important decision, i just believe in faith, evidence is so politicized.

Anonymous said...

ey, btw..the clock thingy is cool. was it there before? or u put it there because of me?

hehe
(but the time written after my comment is still Indonesian time anyhow)

Rob Baiton said...

M...

The clocky thing has been there for a bit more than a week I think! Nope, no particular reason, just saw it and thought I would whack one on the blog!

Faith and Evidence...not so much that evidence is politicized. For me it is a question of tolerance! Tolerance in the sense that for those of us who prefer evidence (the tangible, stuff we can touch) are we prepared to tolerate those that stand on their faith alone (that is I cannot see it, I cannot feel it in the physical sense, but I know it is there in the spiritual sense).

If you are a believer that is not a bad thing and not something that I look down on as being silly. Quite to the contrary, if your faith makes you a better person then I am all for people having faith!

However, if you kill in the name of your faith, and especially if you kill the innocent, then I have serious questions about your faith and the manner in which you practice it. It goes without saying that my tolerance for faith of this kind goes into a rapid freefall!

BTW..."you" in this sense is general (as anyone practicing a killer faith in the manner described above) and not "you" as in the divine Miss M!

Patung said...

Søren Kierkegaard believed I think that faith was bound up in the absurd, that faith itself was absurd, but nevertheless he certainly recommended making the "leap to faith". Paradoxes! They make my head hurt but I think they are very psychologically powerful.

Anonymous said...

@ Rob, in agreement!