In previous posts, I have discussed faith and why it is considered by believers to be something good. I really cannot understand why it should be considered a virtue. I consider it undesirable–believing things without evidence has lead to all sorts of harm. This is true even with simple things like superstitions, but it is especially harmful when your whole world view is based on faith and you disagree with others that have a different faith. That is a recipe for intolerance and persecution. We often see faith listed together with other virtues, like hope, charity, and love. I don’t see why faith should belong to such exalted company, instead of amongst the vices
Some commenters have tried to supply an explanation for why faith is good, but it seems to me they always use the same method. They say that faith leads to some other virtue, and that is why faith is good. They say that faith leads to humility, or true faith leads to good works, etc. But in doing so, they haven’t explained the value of the faith part. Maybe humility is good, or works are good, but why can’t we have them without faith? As far as I can tell, the commenters believe not only that faith leads to these other virtues, but that we can’t have these other virtues without faith. I believe that all of the virtues can be supported without faith. Faith supplies nothing extra, nothing good, nothing we couldn’t get just as easily without faith. I still would like to see why faith, in and of itself, is good. In this post, I would like to simply show that another virtue, humility, can be supported without God or faith.
I suppose one easy way to show that none of the major virtues require faith is to show that they are considered virtues and practiced by the many groups that do not consider faith to be valuable. Aristotle had an entire system of ethics and discussed all of the major virtues without once considering faith. Aristotle saw nothing virtous in faith. In fact, none of the ancient peoples, including the ancient Hebrews, considered faith a virtue. There is no mention of faith in any of the older books of the Old testament. Faith only started to become a part of religion in the few centuries before Christ, and only become central to religion with Christianity. Faith is still not important to most Jews today–the emphasis is on following the law, not faith.
To illustrate, I will discuss humility and how it arises for an atheist. Atheists are often stereotyped as being arrogant. I do not believe that is true. It certainly is not inherent in atheism, even if some atheists have that trait, as do some Christians.
If I am to be proud, I must believe that I have responsiblity for my achievements. However, a naturalistic world is a world governed by forces beyond our control. I may be intelligent, but that intelligence is the luck of random sexual recombination. I am healthy, but that is simply because I have been lucky that none of the blind forces of nature and parasites have harmed me. My temperment is the product of genes and environmental forces beyond my control. I do not see how I could be proud at my intelligence or responsible nature when it was simply a lucky accident.
Upon seeing someone less fortunate than themselves, believers sometimes say “there, but for the grace of God, go I”, admitting that their good fortune is not of their own doing. When I see someone less fortunate than I, I can say “there, but for the luck of random forces of nature, go I”. I still realize that the difference between my own fortunes and those of the less fortunate is not something to be proud of, but to be thankful for. This teaches me both humility and compassion for others. A risk for the believer is thinking that their good fortune is because God is smiling on them and they somehow deserve their fortune. They sometimes claim that people are unhappy or have misfortune because they are sinners. If the believer does this, then their faith has made them less humble and less compassionate, not more humble or compassionate.
Perhaps I can be proud not that I have intelligence or health or other fortunes, but that I have made good use of them and not wasted them. I think there is some value in that. But even then, we must be careful. I make good use of my talents partly because of the inherited temperament I have and partly because of how I was raised, so perhaps I do not even deserve credit for that. On the other hand, if we take this too far we would be unable to condemn the severe criminal or praise the truly good people we know. We must leave some room for free will and personal responsibility, while not pretending that we have too much control over our own fates. We should allow ourselves some pride at our accomplishments, without considering ourselves better than others.
For both the believer and the non believer humility can arise from the realization that there is much beyond our control, whether that is because nature or God is beyond our control. I actually think that the believers have a greater risk, because they can fool themselves into thinking that God is something they can influence or control or that God has given them fortune for a reason. Certainly self righteousness is a common stereotype of the believer that is true in reality fairly often. However, I have known many humble believers and do not want to suggest that religion usually leads to that. However, I would suggest that humility is independeent of faith.
Likewise, all of the other virtues can be obtained without faith. So why does God care so much whether we have faith?
October 14, 2008 at 5:38 pm |
I commented on a previous post on your blog related to this here:
http://heroesheretics.wordpress.com/2008/08/03/why-would-faith-be-needed-for-salvation/#comment-108
I also see you have faith as well, even though you do not consider it a virtue. Your faith is in the natural world. That is the engine of creation, the influencer of the world in which you live. You trust and understand (even if it is a limited understanding) “it” as the thing that makes the world go ’round. It is the thing that goes around. We all have faith in things, like political parties, financial institutions, money as the source of happiness, etc
Faith as a virtue is the understanding that all our life, everything, derives meaning and understanding out of our relationship with Jesus. Humility may look the same for you and me, but your interpretation of it excludes my undeerstanding of a personal God. For you faith isn’t a virtue and I wouldn’t expect you to understand it because you don’t subscribe to my world view. My faith is a response to what God has done for me, for humanity, and it drives me to invest more into people and my society. It is what also helps me to cling to the truth of Jesus, even when others would hurt or kill me for doing so. People have been martyred for both our countries, for freedom (aside from all the religious stuff). The soldiers belief is that there is a greater cause, a cause that hits at the heart of humanity. Sure, some do it for the money, others because they are ordered to (and in the army you need to obey orders), and a variety of other reasons. But one of the things that makes a sacrifial death meaningful is the faith that it is for a greater cause. There’s something virtuous in that.