REASON42

This is a special post in response to a comment under the post – Video: Christopher Hitchens on his book – God is Not Great. The original comment is below, exactly how it was written:

“Since you are a believer in REASON, then you know absolutely NOTHING about a believer in FAITH. Therefore, since you are totally ignorant concerning Faith how is it possible that a person with simple COMMON SENSE would trust anything you have to say? Furthermore, since you’ve never met God and do not have a RELATIONSHIP with him then what you may say about him is a complete FABRICATION!I for one could not convince you OTHERWISE, for A MAN CONVINCED AGAINST HIS WILL IS OF THE SAME OPINION STILL! As for me my faith is my STRONGHOLD and my FOUNDATION and as I have learned over the years by TRIAL AND ERROR, just because you do not believe in GOD, it won’t change a thing and your soul’s DESTINATION will remain the same. By the way, the world is full of all kinds of RELIGION, and GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION either!”
- Sandie

Hello Sandie,

You’re obviously passionate about your faith. You’re capitalisation of particular words gives this away (IT’S LIKE SHOUTING!). Let’s relax it a little and have a reasonable discussion, if we can…

So, let us begin. A ‘believer in reason’ is an odd statement. It’s a bit like saying ‘a believer in thinking clearly’. Perhaps you meant someone who believes that reason is necessary for truth. You then say ‘a believer in faith’ which I take it to mean someone who believes that faith is necessary for truth. This is how I’ve interpreted what you have written. In fact, it took me a couple of reads to understand what you wrote – it’s not very clear and comes across as a rant rather than anything thoughtful.

You seem to divide people into two camps – those who apply reason and those who follow faith. You accuse me (I think you mean me, unless you’re accusing Christopher Hitchens) of being ‘totally ignorant’ concerning faith. It does not follow that someone who applies the principles of reason cannot know anything about someone who has faith. The position of someone with faith is simple to understand – these people have a belief in something without supporting evidence, or in the face of contradictory evidence. Faith is to believe without a valid reason, or to believe in the face of reason. However, I’m guessing that you believe faith is a gift from God, and by this, you think that those who do not believe in God cannot have the ‘gift of faith’. Continue Reading »