Faith: The Legitimization of Insanity

Every time a religion's ideologies are challenged, core or peripheral, christian or eastern, faith is used as the end-all be-all justification for the belief and actions taken because of the belief. For this reason there is no way to get past this faith barrier, and almost every talk I have had with a religious person on their beliefs has descended into the illogical.

I was a practicing Roman Catholic for 17 years of my life, and even then faith seemed like a poor excuse, a cop-out used when a person could not adequately explain their religion. Most of the time they didn't understand their own reasons for belief, let alone the apologetics (explanation of the faith) of the church. So I decided, in the waning years of my christianity, that I would learn the apologetics of the church, initially so I could explain my own faith to those who questioned it. I had decided that answering a person's questions with FAITH was both a horrible way to proselytize, and wasn't winning my debates.

While I started arguing on the side of the church, it took less than a year of in depth study, including some classes on the bible and philosophy, before I was looking on the church in an entirely different light. What was my enlightenment to the truth was labeled as a struggle with my faith, clearly exemplifying the dichotomy between faith and truth. The two are not compatible, and each one brings with it an equally different world view.

The view of truth looks at the world in a realistic manner. Facts, science, empiricism, that which can be explained thoroughly, even things that may not already be proven, but for which there could be a logical explanation fall into this category. This person is actually more likely to believe in things like "conspiracy theories" because they try to understand the facts, and they draw connections that are logical. The idealist would simply believe what he is told by those that are more powerful.

The faith based world view inevitably clashes with the globalist society we have evolved into. This culture is based the foundations of science and technology, and faith cannot be tolerated as a solution to anything.

Faith is G W's solution for many things. The president of the United States, legitimately elected or not, currently operates on FAITH. He has said that the war in Iraq is faith based and domestic decisions are made based on prayer, which makes sense, it seems like he has had his eyes closed for most of his presidency.
Because bush relies on his faith in jebus, and we the people (are supposed) have faith in the president, does that mean the citizens of the US are forced to have faith that GOD will guide america?

Actions based on faith cannot be justified because the entire world is affected by what is done in faith's name. Throughout most of history, until empiricism, actions were based on faith, and precedent clearly shows the devastating affects: the crusades, inquisition, manifest destiny... the list would be too long. All wars not caused by material possessions have been faith based.

Idealism is the rejection of reality. It is the ultimate incarnation of cognitive dissonance. Many logical people have trouble reconciling truth with their own beliefs, but the idealistic do not even try. Actions based on false realities impact the world in ways unintended by the perpetrators. Worse yet, they rarely understand the true effects of what they are doing, and continue to harm the world.

Faith is the most important tool that the powerful have to enforce their control. Be it the Vatican or the White House, they rely on the people's faith in them as an alternative to forcefully controlling the people (which they will do when necessary). The people in those offices are not stupid, and so they do not rely solely on faith. Empiricism is used by these institutions in this modern age so they will function. Yet, they continue to sell faith to the people, and I can only assume it is to meant to keep them ignorant.

Key Point
If you believe that God is specifically reaching down from heaven to answer your trivial prayer to remove a zit or to help you find your lost keys, while at the same time God is allowing 27,000 children to die of starvation each day by specifically ignoring their prayers, then your God is insane.
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