[MD] The End of Faith

[Ham Priday]

Steven --


 > Religious people claim that when rational argument and evidence
> (or what intellectual quality terms you like) fail to support their 
> beliefs
> one must "have faith."  In this sense, faith is an intellectual pattern 
> that
> says that some bad ideas should be considered good ideas.
> In the MOQ, this betrayal of reason is immoral.

I can understand that equating bad ideas--if they are indeed bad--with good 
ones shows a lack of discrimination, or at the most, poor judgment.  But how 
can a belief be "immoral"?   Immorality is what conflicts with accepted 
moral principles or social custom.  Since belief in God is the standard of a 
religious community, according to you, atheism would be immoral in that 
community.

The MOQ takes the elitist position that only its belief system is 
reasonable, and thus capable of defining morality.  Faith in the MOQ 
includes the belief that the universe is a moral system, which means that 
only man can be immoral because he alone has free will.  This to me is 
unreasonable.  If the individual is part of a universe that is inherently 
moral, how do you explain man's immorality?  And of what value or purpose is 
man's freedom to choose?

On the other hand, if the universe is essentially amoral, it is man who must 
determine what is moral in thought and deed.  This offers a reason for man's 
heightened sense of value, as well as the fact that every culture develops 
its own system or morality.  It's precisely that difference which makes 
individual experience meaningful.  You might complain that such a concept is 
"faith-based", but you can't logically say that it's unreasonable or 
immoral.  If Quality is fundamental to existence, then who or what else but 
man is the measure of quality?  Who or what else makes the choices that 
determine the course of history?

Is it reasonable to condemn faith, which is the individual's expression of 
perceived values, by calling it immoral?

--Ham