Rediculous!!!!!!!!!Merriam Webster….religion…(1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance

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“Faith” is one of the most ridiculously overrated terms ever in human history. Mostly because of religious indoctrination, which shoved down peoples throats for centuries: “Faith is the ultimate virtue! Unbelief is the ultimate sin!”

When analyzed rationally, faith is nothing but a mental model. Quite trivial, this is simply how the human mind works. The human mind - which is necessarily smaller in comprehensive capacity than the world it tries to describe - is making constantly simplified mental models of all aspects of the world surrounding it. I would agree that rational atheism also works by “faith”, but this “faith” is something substantially different than the religious faith. And I refrain from using the term “faith” for rational models simply because it is a loaded term, poisoned by millenia of religious nonsense.

The big difference between religious faith and rational, atheistic so-called “faith”: Religious faith is something somebody made up which gives superficially the feeling of consistency, but without sound support from real evidence, it is mostly wishful thinking, and declared to be “eternal, unchanging truth”, despite all evidence to the contrary.

The rational “faith” are models supported by evidence, modified when new evidence comes in, and therefore a way much better approximation of truth than any religious model can ever be.

Regarding ethics, the religious faith has nothing to say but “God wants it so! You are not allowed to ask further questions!”. Rationality on the other hand has made some extremely interesting discoveries in the last decades, for example game theory, evolutionary ethics, and a lot more. Work in progress. I expect ethics to become the next “Gap of the Gods” which will get closed and where “God” will become unneccessary, again.

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When someone comes at me with the misguided notion that Atheism runs on the same type of faith (with the same definition) that theists run on and credit every aspect of their lives with, I simply rebut with,

Faith is nothing more than expectation.

When you say “I have faith that things will turn out right,” you’re merely saying that you have that expectation.

So, yes, my value system requires a kind of faith - an expectation that people worth talking to will be rational, intelligent, and self-preservation (this speaks to laws regarding violence, theft, etc, which as we all know predate Christianity). However, as the word is tied up in a mystical Santa Claus mentality for most people, I refrain from using the word, even when, to me, it is appropriate.

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I think the article is incoherent. 

How exactly does an atheist version of “faith” help me to “decide whether to disavow the brutality of a Stalin or affirm the non-violence of a Gandhi?”

Do we not have evidence that brutality is typically bad?  Do we not have evidence that non-violence is typically good?

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mr. lose is actually aiming at the theists by mixing things he is to trying to persuade theist not to go over to atheism because there as well as here every thing or most of the things is based on” faith ” , so why just not stay there with the comfort of at least knowing that you keep your old friends
what a frail try
so dear atheists I think we do not need to take this theist strategist and petty scientist who is just using words like empirical facts for the cosmetic of his delusion   very seriously

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I think it is comical that atheists find a need to organize like a “church”.  I see no such need, unless one is trying to surround oneself with people of like views in order to support and defend ones own doubts.

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Hugh R.F. Campbell:  I could not agree more!

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@Hugh or one just likes to surround themselves with people who thinks like they do.  Ever been to a Unitarian Church service?

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Mr. Lose really needs to educate himself.  Faith is the hope that your fantasy is true.  The “F” word is for fantasy. Mr. Lose would argue, “..that believing in God—or not—is only the first, and perhaps the easiest, element of faith.” If one does not have “faith” how can this be an element of it? This certainly is a meaningless statement. But he continues, “The rest deals with how one acts in the world as a result of this initial belief.”  It follows then that if there is no initial belief it is impossible to act in this world?  Rubbish, and he got paid for this?

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True values can only exists in the total absence of faith. If any spiritual beliefs are involved, the values may be twisted to serve a higher purpose. “Thou shalt not kill” isn’t supposed to be conditional, yet history has shown otherwise. Only without faith may a value system be sincere.

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@ Deanb, I think what he means is that everyone has a “presupostion” or core belief in how they view the world. For example, one may believe that reason is their highest authority in life. Thus everything that person does in life will refer back to how reason is the highest authority. I could be wrong but I’m fairly sure it’s impossible to go through life without having a belief of this kind.

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