Faith is NOT a virtue.?

Question

How is believing in something with no good empirical evidence of it's existence a virtue. If you find faith a virtue you find believing in unicorns or santa cause a virtue. Blind faith is like believing their is a tea cup on the moon just for the heck of it.Dragons are real!!! "Read a Harry Potter book they say dragons are real"; faith throws logic out the window.

Answer 1

Harry Potter is far from the Word of God

Answer 2

Faith, hope, and charity are the key (cardinal) virtues ... and they are a function of man's cooperation with the divine grace that God provides to all.



Blind faith serves nobody well.



That's why the Catholic Church has provided the world with some 2000 years of scholarly, complete, truthful, and systematic theology, coupled with practical and consistent philosophy.



Can't beat that.



http://douglawrence.wordpress.com/

Answer 3

virtue = a capacity to act

how did the Wright brothers even conceive of a contraption that would carry man and fly...there was no empirical evidence man could do that...what about gamma rays...they have existed since the beginning of the universe...but we couldn't detect them until within the last 100 years...does that mean gamma rays never existed before that...faith is the very foundation of modern science...scientists had to have faith that answers were able to be found before they were found...why do we try to discover cures for diseases unless we have faith that we can...there is no empirical evidence that shows we can find a cure for cancer...but we search for it...why do we search for it unless we assume, using faith, that the universe is rational and we can understand it..and be able to find a cure...as we have with other cures...

Answer 4

"believing in unicorns or santa cause a virtue."

-Whoa! Leave Santa out of this!



"with no good empirical evidence"

-I've got all the evidence I need.

Answer 5

You are defining Faith as credulity. That is not how the Bible defines it.



Is there a person you have faith in?



Do you have faith in them because you know nothing about them, or because you know them very well?



Normal day to day faith is based on knowledge, not ignorance, not emotion.



Faith, as it is described in the Bible, is the same. It is not like the blind faith, the credulity, seen in many "Christian" groups.



Romans 10:16-17 demonstrates that faith must be based on knowledge and understanding.



In Romans 12:1 we find the Greek "Logikos" in the phrase "logical worship."



Then in the next verse (12:2) the logical and legal term for prove (Greek "dokimazein") is used in the phrase "prove to yourselves."



In Hebrews 11:1 faith is defined using three Greek logical and legal terms in sequence:



Hupostasis = substantiated = assurance.

Pragmatikos = Pragmatic = generally "a deed" as practical evidence).

Elegchos = Proof or Evidence in a logical and legal sense.



So faith is here defined as "substantiated pragmatic proof."



Thus, faith, as described in the Bible is based on knowledge and understanding; not on ignorance and emotion.



You should stop parroting what others say and do your own independent research.

Answer 6

I've always had a problem reconciling this question, too.



I just try to think of faith as being confident in someone else coming through, even though their actions are out of your hands.



It's hard for me to believe in something unless it is proven to me, which is why I'm probably the only agnostic in my family lol.

Answer 7

It is a virtue in christian religion

Asatru NOBLE virtues are

1. Strength is better than weakness

2. Courage is better than cowardice

3. Joy is better than guilt

4. Honour is better than dishonour

5. Freedom is better than slavery

6. Kinship is better than alienation

7. Realism is better than dogmatism

8. Vigor is better than lifelessness

9. Ancestry is better than universalism

Answer 8

People have blind faith in science, don't they?



Is that any better?



If there was no God, then there would be no Atheists.



The only logical, ethical prescription in a naturalistic (Godless) world is utilitarianism. Your worth then in such materialistic world depends on what you provide. If you are too old - bang we shoot you. This is better? That's what Hitler did in WWII - if you had the wrong label, then bang - you got shot or gassed.



Place your blind faith in science or God. Right?



All the best.

Answer 9

Interesting question. Religious views have little to do with morality. A virtue refers to a moral or ethical principle, so I suppose that faith is not a virtue. God cares little about religion.

Answer 10

“Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.” Richard Dawkins



...And I'm a Deist

Answer 11

I laughed when I read Tedi Lee's answer. Harry Potter is not god-like??

WOO, TOTALLY NOT WHAT WE WERE LOOKING FOR.

You're exactly right anyways.

Answer 12

There is just as much proof for Harry Potter as there is for the bible

Answer 13

Unfortunately some people would rather believe something which is illogical but hope giving rather than the truth.

Answer 14

faith is a tool .. not a virtue .