The importance of faith

[Geneviev]

That isn't a problem with faith, but with how it's used. Faith shouldn't hold people back.

Perhaps it shouldn’t, but some people see it like that anyways. A healthy amount of religion might prove beneficial, but being a religious fanatic is not. You seem like you have a reasonable relationship with religion. That’s fine, but some don’t.

That may be true. Still, encouraging religion in order to help people shouldn't be a problem, even with the existence of a few extremists.

[Cekoviu]

The reasons you give for why faith is a good thing are exactly why it's bad. If every person is optimistic and think things will work out in the end, then nobody will do anything to actually make that happen. If your dog just ate a chocolate cake, you don't have "faith" in it automatically being healed and think "it's probably fine, things will work out!" You take it to the vet.

[Cekoviu]

Perhaps it shouldn’t, but some people see it like that anyways. A healthy amount of religion might prove beneficial, but being a religious fanatic is not. You seem like you have a reasonable relationship with religion. That’s fine, but some don’t.

That may be true. Still, encouraging religion in order to help people shouldn't be a problem, even with the existence of a few extremists.

When the exact same consequences could be achieved without the risk of extremists arising, religion is not the best option.

[Pacomia]

The reasons you give for why faith is a good thing are exactly why it's bad. If every person is optimistic and think things will work out in the end, then nobody will do anything to actually make that happen. If your dog just ate a chocolate cake, you don't have "faith" in it automatically being healed and think "it's probably fine, things will work out!" You take it to the vet.

Similarly, you don’t pray that sickness or injury will be healed, you see a doctor. Don’t let religion get in the way of proven science.

[Cekoviu]

The reasons you give for why faith is a good thing are exactly why it's bad. If every person is optimistic and think things will work out in the end, then nobody will do anything to actually make that happen. If your dog just ate a chocolate cake, you don't have "faith" in it automatically being healed and think "it's probably fine, things will work out!" You take it to the vet.

Similarly, you don’t pray that sickness or injury will be healed, you see a doctor. Don’t let religion get in the way of proven science.

Not even religion in particular, just blind faith in anything or anybody.

[The Brytish Isles]

Faith is quite unimportant to me, even being quite useless in my opinion. Having faith in a deity or having faith that said deity will bring good times is useless religious drivel. The best way for someone to improve their situation is through personal action or resilience if the times are truly dire. Bog standard optimism and mindfulness is far more useful than faith in this scenario because faith teaches a person to be reliant on a deity.

[Geneviev]

The reasons you give for why faith is a good thing are exactly why it's bad. If every person is optimistic and think things will work out in the end, then nobody will do anything to actually make that happen. If your dog just ate a chocolate cake, you don't have "faith" in it automatically being healed and think "it's probably fine, things will work out!" You take it to the vet.

Someone with faith won't do either of those. Faith believes that you will be rewarded if you work for it, and that God created medicine to help people (and dogs).

[Pacomia]

Similarly, you don’t pray that sickness or injury will be healed, you see a doctor. Don’t let religion get in the way of proven science.

Not even religion in particular, just blind faith in anything or anybody.

Basically, the main takeaway here is to question everything.

But if you question a thing and it makes sense, then do it.

[Dooom35796821595]

Perhaps it shouldn’t, but some people see it like that anyways. A healthy amount of religion might prove beneficial, but being a religious fanatic is not. You seem like you have a reasonable relationship with religion. That’s fine, but some don’t.

That may be true. Still, encouraging religion in order to help people shouldn't be a problem, even with the existence of a few extremists.

A few? Faith and belief have often been at the core of the worst atrocities committed by humanity, encouraging people to believe in a higher power instead of thinking for themselves.

[The Brytish Isles]

Perhaps it shouldn’t, but some people see it like that anyways. A healthy amount of religion might prove beneficial, but being a religious fanatic is not. You seem like you have a reasonable relationship with religion. That’s fine, but some don’t.

That may be true. Still, encouraging religion in order to help people shouldn't be a problem, even with the existence of a few extremists.

Religion shouldn’t be encouraged. It should be discouraged.

[Pacomia]

religious dribble.

Did you mean “drivel”?

[Cekoviu]

The reasons you give for why faith is a good thing are exactly why it's bad. If every person is optimistic and think things will work out in the end, then nobody will do anything to actually make that happen. If your dog just ate a chocolate cake, you don't have "faith" in it automatically being healed and think "it's probably fine, things will work out!" You take it to the vet.

Someone with faith won't do either of those. Faith believes that you will be rewarded if you work for it, and that God created medicine to help people (and dogs).

Ideally. Not in practice.

[Geneviev]

That may be true. Still, encouraging religion in order to help people shouldn't be a problem, even with the existence of a few extremists.

A few? Faith and belief have often been at the core of the worst atrocities committed by humanity, encouraging people to believe in a higher power instead of thinking for themselves.

Faith has also been part of the greatest things humanity has done. Science and arts were part of religion once.

[The Brytish Isles]

religious dribble.

Did you mean “drivel”?

Yes, I did. It’s late over here in Ol’ Blighty, so I was bound to make some error. I’ll correct that. Thanks.

[Pacomia]

Faith is extremely important, but so is science.

You cannot have happiness and justice without both.*

*Disclaimer: Atheism personally is something I believe lowers happiness(which is correlated by studies) but such studies also show obesity is a correlation with higher religiousness. I am not saying you cannot be happy and non-religious, I personally believe religion just gives more happiness for more people, but atheists should not be discriminated against regardless, this is not me calling religious people superior, my statement relies on a societal level, diversity after all means if you can be happy without faith, other people can't, we are different for a reason and to imply a size fits all solution is absurd, especially in this regard.
Further elaboration available if asked.*

Explanation costs 5 dollars per ten thousand words per post, please contact your doctor if pregnant, stupid, or hateful towards the religious. We do not serve people who want to kill religious people or people who try to kill atheists. Contact us for a possible 10% off coupon.

Personally, I’d rather be educated and sad than uneducated and happy.

[Pacomia]

A few? Faith and belief have often been at the core of the worst atrocities committed by humanity, encouraging people to believe in a higher power instead of thinking for themselves.

Faith has also been part of the greatest things humanity has done. Science and arts were part of religion once.

Most of the most important scientific discoveries of all time drew major backlash from the Church. Look at the case of Copernicus.

[Dooom35796821595]

A few? Faith and belief have often been at the core of the worst atrocities committed by humanity, encouraging people to believe in a higher power instead of thinking for themselves.

Faith has also been part of the greatest things humanity has done. Science and arts were part of religion once.

No, science and art were often maligned and persecuted for making people question scripture.

[Geneviev]

Someone with faith won't do either of those. Faith believes that you will be rewarded if you work for it, and that God created medicine to help people (and dogs).

Ideally. Not in practice.

That's not a problem with faith.

Faith has also been part of the greatest things humanity has done. Science and arts were part of religion once.

Most of the most important scientific discoveries of all time drew major backlash from the Church. Look at the case of Copernicus.

The Church preserved most knowledge during the Dark Ages.

[Senkaku]

The reasons you give for why faith is a good thing are exactly why it's bad. If every person is optimistic and think things will work out in the end, then nobody will do anything to actually make that happen. If your dog just ate a chocolate cake, you don't have "faith" in it automatically being healed and think "it's probably fine, things will work out!" You take it to the vet.

Someone with faith won't do either of those. Faith believes that you will be rewarded if you work for it,

I think you'd find a Calvinist would disagree on that point.

and that God created medicine to help people (and dogs).

Maybe your faith, but the Christian Scientists take a different view.

Just because your faith may be benign doesn't mean everyone's is. Faith can be good for people, but often it isn't.

That may be true. Still, encouraging religion in order to help people shouldn't be a problem, even with the existence of a few extremists.

A few? Faith and belief have often been at the core of the worst atrocities committed by humanity, encouraging people to believe in a higher power instead of thinking for themselves.

A few? Faith and belief have often been at the core of the worst atrocities committed by humanity, encouraging people to believe in a higher power instead of thinking for themselves.

Faith has also been part of the greatest things humanity has done. Science and arts were part of religion once.

And so we seem to have arrived at a key insight: faith isn't necessarily good or bad; it just depends on what someone has faith in and what they use that faith to justify doing.

The reasons you give for why faith is a good thing are exactly why it's bad. If every person is optimistic and think things will work out in the end, then nobody will do anything to actually make that happen. If your dog just ate a chocolate cake, you don't have "faith" in it automatically being healed and think "it's probably fine, things will work out!" You take it to the vet.

I always think of the joke about the preacher who drowns in a flood after rejecting rescue attempts and then when he goes to the afterlife God's like "I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what more did you want lol"

[Kannap]

That may be true. Still, encouraging religion in order to help people shouldn't be a problem, even with the existence of a few extremists.

Religion shouldn’t be encouraged. It should be discouraged.

I'm going to have to disagree on it being discouraged. We have freedom of religion for a reason, let people have their thing.

[Pacomia]

Ideally. Not in practice.

That's not a problem with faith.

Most of the most important scientific discoveries of all time drew major backlash from the Church. Look at the case of Copernicus.

The Church preserved most knowledge during the Dark Ages.

You mean the knowledge that they agreed with? Okay then.

[Kannap]

Faith is extremely important, but so is science.

You cannot have happiness and justice without both.*

*Disclaimer: Atheism personally is something I believe lowers happiness(which is correlated by studies) but such studies also show obesity is a correlation with higher religiousness. I am not saying you cannot be happy and non-religious, I personally believe religion just gives more happiness for more people, but atheists should not be discriminated against regardless, this is not me calling religious people superior, my statement relies on a societal level, diversity after all means if you can be happy without faith, other people can't, we are different for a reason and to imply a size fits all solution is absurd, especially in this regard.
Further elaboration available if asked.*

Explanation costs 5 dollars per ten thousand words per post, please contact your doctor if pregnant, stupid, or hateful towards the religious. We do not serve people who want to kill religious people or people who try to kill atheists. Contact us for a possible 10% off coupon.

Personally, I’d rather be educated and sad than uneducated and happy.

I'd rather be educated and happy.

[Pacomia]

Personally, I’d rather be educated and sad than uneducated and happy.

I'd rather be educated and happy.

Same.

[Geneviev]

Faith has also been part of the greatest things humanity has done. Science and arts were part of religion once.

Correct.

We need to revive that relationship.

Hopefully we will eventually.

Someone with faith won't do either of those. Faith believes that you will be rewarded if you work for it,

I think you'd find a Calvinist would disagree on that point.

and that God created medicine to help people (and dogs).

Maybe your faith, but the Christian Scientists take a different view.

Just because your faith may be benign doesn't mean everyone's is. Faith can be good for people, but often it isn't.

A few? Faith and belief have often been at the core of the worst atrocities committed by humanity, encouraging people to believe in a higher power instead of thinking for themselves.

Faith has also been part of the greatest things humanity has done. Science and arts were part of religion once.

And so we seem to have arrived at a key insight: faith isn't necessarily good or bad; it just depends on what someone has faith in and what they use that faith to justify doing.

The reasons you give for why faith is a good thing are exactly why it's bad. If every person is optimistic and think things will work out in the end, then nobody will do anything to actually make that happen. If your dog just ate a chocolate cake, you don't have "faith" in it automatically being healed and think "it's probably fine, things will work out!" You take it to the vet.

I always think of the joke about the preacher who drowns in a flood after rejecting rescue attempts and then when he goes to the afterlife God's like "I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what more did you want lol"

The Bible would not disagree.

Faith would be good for people if they are careful to not blindly trust things they are told.

That's true. When used properly, though, faith is one of the most important things.

[Petrolheadia]

Why have the middleman in heaven, if you can truthfully believe in you and other people being able to solve your problems?