by Bluegoat » December 30th, 2008, 1:47 pm
I tend to think as religious faith being more akin to the idea of faithfulness" than the way it is sometimes used - to indicate choosing to believe something unknowable without any good reason and even if it is stupid. Rather, It is related to commitment, an orientation of the will or love, and a certain openness of heart.
A comparison might be marraige. No one is expected to marry someone without thought, getting to know the person, and concluding that he or she will be a good and true spouse. If the person turns out to be unsuitable, it is sensible not to marry him!
Having married the person, however, changes things. It requires trust, an attempt to fix any problems in the relationship, or perhaps live with them. It may require consciously willing love one does not feel. It requires living for another person, who is no longer really separate from oneself. However, it does not mean that if you find out your spouse is a bigamist, or a philanderer, or a murderer, that you should ignore it or turn a blind eye. These things would clearly require some kind of action.
On a slightly different note, I remember having a lecture in university on some Muslim philosopher, I can't remember who. He thought that our place in heaven depended on our knowledge of God, so philosophers would be closer, others further away. I always thought this was stupid, because the difference between something infinite like God, and our knowledge of him, which is finite, is always infinite. And in any case, God's knowledge of all people is perfect, which is surely more important.