What is faith? Faith is trust that a belief or idea is true, despite a lack of confirmation. In effect: faith is the subjective mechanism theists utilize to determine truth. So, just how reliable is faith?

Given that we know (through the law of no-contradiction) that contrary claims can't be exclusively true.

Given that there exsist hundereds if not thousands of individual claims regarding faith and religion.

Given that there exsists no objective evidence for religions, and the only possible evidence could be subjective (ie faith).

Given that at BEST (assuming Christianity is truth), 30% of the world has correctly utilized their subjective mechanism (ie faith) to find truth.

Therefore we can conclude that the vast majority of thoes who utilize faith as an "indicator of truth" are mislead.

Therefore we can conclude that faith misleads most people most of the time. Chances are, if you utilize the subjective mechanism (ie faith) as an indicator of truth, you are mistaken.

Thoughts?

Saying what I think would be redundant. Any excuse they give is just asinine. The last one I heard used in 'seriousness' was "A lot of people believe in God, so it must be real." Right.

I'm not so sure most people actually do have faith. It's, of course, an illogical argument. But, even assuming some validity for the sake of argument, there would have to be some sort of unbiased measurement of "faith" in order to determine exactly what is meant by the term. Does Bob have 90% faith, and Susan have 30% faith? Is it digital, you either have it or you don't? Would faith be a measurement of religiosity irregardless of the validity of the claims of the religion itself?

Faith is one of those words that are brandied around by theists with little regard as to it's meaning, and more emphasis on it's impact. They wield it like a sword.

I'm sure a lot of people do have a real strong unbending belief in their religion, but the bulk of people I know do it because it's just "what you do". A fine reason for the clothes you wear but a poor reason to dedicate yourself to a religion.

The most accurate definition of "faith" I've seen: "Sit down and shut up".

Faith isn't necessarily bad, intrinsically.
You see, I have faith - faith in the inherent goodness of people and faith that the future will be bring better things for humanity. I believe these things without considering the actual evidence pertaining to them, and I am aware that I am suspending reason to do so.
I think the problem is when you have faith in something that makes you feel entitled to do other things in a sort-of pseudo logical way. "I have faith god exists; ergo the bible is true and I need to convert unbelievers."

This sort of thinking is what makes the leap from empowering faith (people are basically good) to overpowering faith (the United States should be a Christian nation).