Giving Faith a Second Look

Growing up, I took it for granted that faith was a virtue--one of the highest. As I went through my faith crisis I began to see faith more as a dangerous tool used to manipulate people into believing a person's claims without them having to provide any evidence. But there are still stories of "faith" that seem to inspire me. Why is that the case? Should I be giving faith a second look?

One of the most salient examples of faith in the Book of Mormon is the story of Samuel the Lamanite (see Helaman 14-16). Samuel, a stranger from out of nowhere, gets up on the city wall and declares that, according to an angel he spoke to, a sign of Jesus' birth will come in 5 years. Then he basically runs off and disappears from the narrative.

Somehow all the good guys believe him, and all the bad guys don't.

Tensions mount between the believers and non-believers over the next 5 years, and finally come to a head when the non-believers decide to kill all the believers if the signs haven't occurred by a certain date (so typical of non-believers). But miracle of miracles, the sign of Jesus' birth comes just in the nick of time and the faithful are saved!

I always wondered when I read this why it was so important for people to believe this prediction by a seemingly random fly-by-night street preacher. Was it really so important that people would be willing to kill and/or die over it? It seems like a more sensible attitude would be, "Let's wait and see if the sign happens, and then we'll know if he was truly a prophet, and also whether Jesus has been born." After all, isn't the purpose of a sign to show evidence of something? 

Imagine if some random guy stood on top of the wall around Temple Square proclaiming that an angel had told him the world was going to end on December 21, 2025. Would anyone be blamed for not believing him? Of course not.

The Scientific Revolution

For millennia humans have passed on knowledge and myths from one generation to another, without really questioning them. But over the past few hundred years, we've learned how to systematically question our assumptions and methodically fill in the gaps of our knowledge through the scientific method. This revolution has led to more discoveries and advancements in the past few hundred years than in all the millennia of human history before it.

In today's world, where we deal with strangers on a regular basis and where misinformation is so easily spread through social media, it's increasingly important for us to exercise a healthy amount of skepticism and base our beliefs on evidence and sound logic. This is especially true for beliefs that influence our financial decisions or shape the way we act and treat others.

One of the most transformative moments in my spiritual journey was realizing that faith was not the virtue I was taught it was all of my life, and in some cases could even be a dangerous tool in the hands of con-men and fraudsters, allowing them to convince and manipulate people based on these claims without any obligation to back up them up with evidence.

So why is faith still seen as such a virtue by so many?

The Virtues of Faith

There are some healthy attitudes and actions that are often attributed to religious faith. Even today I find myself inspired by some of the stories of "faith," and I've realized this is because many of the concepts that are tied to religious faith are actually principles I still believe in on their own. For example:

Trust in the Lord	is really just...	Optimism
Be thankful for His blessings	becomes...	Gratitude
"I can do all things through Christ"	becomes...	Believe in yourself
Trust in your church leaders	becomes...	Trust and cooperate with others
Be true to your religion	becomes...	Stick to your principles (honesty, integrity, etc.)

When people see everything through the lens of God, all of their positive feelings and outcomes will be attributed to him, and inextricably tied to their belief in him. That's why you often hear quotes like this from believers:

"Life without God is a life filled with fear. Life with God is a life filled with peace." --Russell M. Nelson

What believers don't understand is that people who lose their faith in God don't automatically lose these positive and pro-social emotions and attitudes that had previously been tied to God. Those sentiments basically remain the same, and they can easily stand on their own without a belief in the supernatural. 

That's because regardless of what supernatural beings we do or do not rely upon, most of us actually base our hopes and attitudes on (1) our genetic predispositions and (2) our past experiences. Neither of these change when we lose our faith in God, so despite what is often said at the pulpit about apostates being filled with fear, people who leave their faith are generally just as happy and fulfilled as they were before.

Rethinking Faith

Though there are many virtuous concepts tied to the idea of faith, there are some elements that we should abandon, or at least be wary of.

Supernatural Explanations

One of the core principles of the science is that you should never attribute a supernatural cause to something that can be explained by a natural one. And a second one is that, when a natural explanation is not forthcoming, withhold judgment until one is discovered. It's okay to be uncertain; that's what drives us forward and leads to answers.

Unjustified Belief

When the evidence for something is uncertain, don't jump to conclusions. It's okay to be ambivalent or uncertain. When somebody is trying to pressure you to believe something without evidence, they often have ulterior motives.

Vindication

One appealing part about faith is our desire for vindication. Religious leaders often exploit this to pit us against doubters and firm up our beliefs. We all love the stories where the protagonist has a strong conviction, but everyone around them scoffs at their absurd ideas, only to be proven wrong in the end, while the protagonist gets the last laugh. The story of Samuel the Lamanite above is a perfect example of this.

We all love the feeling of being right. But despite being romanticized in stories, keeping a tight grip on our beliefs and hoping for vindication is actually less likely to make us right. It's better to hold our convictions loosely and then be happy when we are proven wrong, because then we can update our beliefs and be more right.

Loyalty to Authorities and Institutions

Religious faith is often rooted in a religion's need for loyal followers. When you dissect stories of faith that religious leaders tell, they are often just stories about loyalty to the religion. A test of faith is really a test of loyalty.

The Abrahamic test was a test of loyalty--would Abraham be loyal to God even if it meant killing his own son?

Cult leaders have been known to make unreasonable or unethical demands of their followers in order to test (and thus cement) their loyalty. When believers pass these "tests of faith" they make an uncomfortable sacrifice, and these sacrifices ironically increase their loyalty (look up "sunk cost fallacy" and "escalation of commitment"). This is when religion and "faith" become very dangerous.

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." --Voltaire

Conclusion

Faith is a religious buzzword that can mean many things. When you leave religion behind and replace it with scientific skepticism, it's tempting to throw faith out the window. But then you'll hear a story about faith that somehow inspires you, and you wonder why. When you hear these stories, take the time to dissect the word "faith" into its various parts--optimism, loyalty, gratitude, hope, uncritical acceptance, belief in the supernatural--and evaluate the story for what it is. You can appreciate a story of perseverance against the odds, even if you don't believe the part about Jesus carrying them through it all.