faith

The English word faith finds its roots in the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root *{{lang|ine|bheidh-}}, signifying concepts of trust, confidence, and persuasion. This root has given rise to various terms across different languages, such as Greek {{lang|grc|πίστις}} ({{transl|grc|pístis}}), meaning "faith", and Latin {{lang|la|fidēs}}, meaning "trust", "faith", "confidence".{{Cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=faith |title=Faith - Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Etymology Online |accessdate=February 25, 2024}}

Furthermore, the Proto-Indo-European root *{{lang|ine|were-o-}} adds another layer to the word's etymology, emphasizing the notions of truth and trustworthiness. This root is evident in English words like veracity, verity, and verify, as well as in Latin with {{lang|la|verus}}, meaning "true".

The term faith in English emerged in the mid-13th century, evolving from Anglo-French and Old French forms like {{lang|fro|feid}} and {{lang|fro|feit}}, ultimately tracing back to the Latin {{lang|la|fidēs}}. This Latin term, rooted in the PIE root *{{lang|ine|bheidh-}}, encompassed meanings such as trust, confidence, and belief.

Referring to "religions" (plural), Pope Francis claims that "the majority of people living on our planet profess to be believers".Pope Francis, [https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf Laudato si'], paragraph 201, published 24 May 2015, accessed 11 May 2024

File:Triumph of Faith over Idolatry Theodon.jpg by Jean-Baptiste Théodon (1646–1713)]]

{{Main|Faith in Christianity}}

The word translated as "faith" in English-language editions of the New Testament, the Greek word {{lang|grc|πίστις}} ({{transliteration|grc|pístis}}), can also be translated as "belief", "faithfulness", or "trust".{{cite web|url= https://biblehub.com/greek/4102.htm|title= Strong's Greek: 4102. πίστις (pistis) – faith, faithfulness|work= biblehub.com|access-date= 14 October 2015|archive-date= 17 October 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151017050725/http://biblehub.com/greek/4102.htm|url-status= live}} Faith can also be translated from the Greek verb {{lang|grc|πιστεύω}} ({{transliteration|grc|pisteuo}}), meaning "to trust, to have confidence, faithfulness, to be reliable, to assure".{{Cite book |editor-last1= Thomas |editor-first1= Robert L. |year = 1981 |title= New American standard exhaustive concordance of the Bible | pages= 1674–75 | isbn= 0-87981-197-8 | publisher= A.J. Holman | location= Nashville, Tenn.}} Christianity encompasses various views regarding the nature of faith. Some see faith as being persuaded or convinced that something is true.{{Cite book |title= The Ten Most Misunderstood Words in the Bible |year= 2012 |last= Wilkin|first= Robert N. |page= 221 |publisher= GES |location= Corinth, Tex.}} In this view, a person believes something when they are presented with adequate evidence that it is true. The 13th-century theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas did not hold that faith is mere opinion: on the contrary, he held that it represents a mean (understood in the Aristotelian sense) between excessive reliance on science (i.e. demonstration) and excessive reliance on opinion.{{multiref2

|1={{Cite book|last=Aquinas|first=Thomas|chapter-url= https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3001.htm|title= Summa Theologiae|chapter=Faith|at=Secunda Secundae Partis, Q. 1|access-date= 2018-05-26|archive-date= 2018-05-27|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180527201512/http://www.newadvent.org/summa/3001.htm|url-status= live}}

|2={{cite web |last1=Kraut |first1=Richard |title=Aristotle's Ethics: 5. The Doctrine of the Mean |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/#DoctMean |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=6 May 2022 |date=2018 |archive-date=10 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110125320/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/#DoctMean |url-status=live}}

}}

According to Teresa Morgan, faith was understood by early Christians within the cultural milieu of the period as a relationship that created a community based on trust, instead of a set of mental beliefs or feelings of the heart.{{Cite book |last=Morgan |first=Teresa Jean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=59umCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 |title=Roman Faith and Christian Faith: Pistis and Fides in the Early Roman Empire and Early Churches |year=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-872414-8 |language=en |access-date=2023-03-01 |archive-date=2023-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164822/https://books.google.com/books?id=59umCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 |url-status=live }}

Numerous commentators discuss the results of faith. Some believe that true faith results in good works, while others believe that while faith in Jesus brings eternal life, it does not necessarily result in good works.{{cite web| url = http://redeeminggod.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/Faith-and-Good-Works-JD-Myers.pdf| first = Jeremy D.|last= Myers|title=The Gospel Under Siege| access-date = 2015-09-11| archive-date = 2016-03-04| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304233647/http://redeeminggod.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/Faith-and-Good-Works-JD-Myers.pdf| url-status = live}}

Regardless of the approach taken to faith, all Christians agree that the Christian faith (in the sense of Christian practice) is aligned with the ideals and the example of the life of Jesus. The Christian contemplates the mystery of God and his grace and seeks to know and become obedient to God. To a Christian, the faith is not static, but causes one to learn more of God and to grow in faith; Christian faith has its origin in God.{{Cite book | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=IzqDiPALzKEC&q=a&pg=PA238 | title= The Teaching of Christ: A Catholic Catechism for Adults, Edition: 5, revised | year= 2004 | last= Wuerl|first= Donald W. | page= 238 | isbn= 1-59276-094-5 | access-date= 21 April 2009 |publisher= Our Sunday Visitor Pub. Division | location= Huntingdon, Ind.}} {{Dead link|date=October 2021}}

In Christianity, faith causes change as it seeks a greater understanding of God. Faith is not fideism or simple obedience to a set of rules or statements.{{cite book|last=Migliore|first=Daniel L.|year=2004|title=Faith seeking understanding: an introduction to Christian theology|location=Grand Rapids, Mich|publisher=W.B. Eerdmans|pages=3–8}} Before Christians have faith, but they must also understand in whom and in what they have faith. Without understanding, there cannot be true faith, and that understanding is built on the foundation of the community of believers, the scriptures and traditions, and on the personal experiences of the believer.{{cite book|last=Inbody|first=Tyron|year=2005|title=The faith of the Christian church: an introduction to theology|location=Grand Rapids, Mich.|publisher=William B. Eerdmans|pages=1–10}}

Christians may recognize different degrees of faith when they encourage each other to, and themselves strive to, develop, grow, and/or deepen their faith.For example {{cite book | title = Draw Near to God: 100 Bible Verses to Deepen Your Faith | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VSSDDwAAQBAJ | publisher = Zondervan | date = 2019 | isbn = 978-0-310-45388-8 | access-date = 25 September 2019}}{{page needed|date=July 2023}}

This may imply that one can measure faith. Willingness to undergo martyrdom indicates a proxy for depth of faith but does not provide an everyday measurement for the average contemporary Christian. Within the Calvinist tradition the degree of prosperityCompare prosperity theology. may serve as an analog of the level of faith.Compare:

{{cite book | last1 = Weber | first1 = Max | author-link1 = Max Weber | translator1-last = Baehr | translator1-first = Peter | translator2-last = Wells | translator2-first = Gordon C. | year = 1905 | title = The Protestant Ethic and the 'Spirit' of Capitalism: and Other Writings | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4MmligHndssC | series = Penguin twentieth-century classics | location = New York | publisher = Penguin | publication-date = 2002 | isbn = 978-1-101-09847-9 | access-date = 25 September 2019 | quote = In the course of its development, Calvinism made a positive addition: the idea of the necessity of putting one's faith to the test [Bewährung des Glaubens] in secular working life. [...] It thus provided the positive motivation [Antrieb] for asceticism, and with the firm establishment of its ethics in the doctrine of predestination, the spiritual aristocracy of the monks, who stood outside and above the world, was replaced by the spiritual aristocracy of the saints in the world, predestined by God from eternity [...]. | archive-date = 13 January 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230113012218/https://books.google.com/books?id=4MmligHndssC | url-status = live }}

Other Christian strands may rely on personal self-evaluation to measure the intensity of an individual's faith, with associated difficulties in calibrating to any scale. Solemn affirmations of a creed (a statement of faith) provide {{clarify|text=broad measurements of details.|date=July 2023}} Various tribunals of the Inquisition, however, concerned themselves with precisely evaluating the orthodoxy of the faith of those it examined – to acquit or to punish in varying degrees.

{{cite book | last1 = Peters | first1 = Edward | author-link1 = Edward Peters (scholar) | year = 1988 | chapter = The Inquisition in Literature and Art | title = Inquisition | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TnqLow3iKd4C | edition = reprint | location = Berkeley | publisher = University of California Press | publication-date = 1989 | page = 225 | isbn = 978-0-520-06630-4 | access-date = 25 September 2019 | quote = The costuming of those convicted [...] was the result of careful planning and indicated specific gradations of guilt. There was never a single, simple sanbenito, for example, but a different kind of sanbenito for different crimes and degrees of heresy, with corresponding headgear [...]. The garb of the penitents, the procession with inquisitorial banners and crosses, the careful design of the seating and sequence of the ceremony made the auto-de-fé itself 'a work of art [...]' [...]. [...] The aim of the auto-de-fé, as its name suggests, is the 'act of faith,' that is, the liturgical demonstration of the truth of the faith and the error and evil of its enemies.}}

The classification of different degrees of faith allows that faith and its expression may wax and wane in fervor—during the lifetime of a faithful individual and/or over the various historical centuries of a society with an embedded religious system. Thus, one can speak of an "Age of Faith"{{multiref2

|1={{cite book

|last1 = Tanner

|first1 = Norman

|title = The Ages of Faith: Popular Religion in Late Medieval England and Western Europe

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dojYAAAAMAAJ

|series = Volume 56 of International Library of Historical Studies

|year = 2009

|publisher = Bloomsbury Academic

|publication-date = 2009

|page = 161

|isbn = 978-1-84511-760-3

|access-date = 28 October 2021

|quote = After all, was not the Middle Ages the 'age of faith' par execellence, the time when the whole of Europe was united not only in its belief but also in a common view of society?

}}

|2={{cite book

|last1 = Durant

|first1 = Will

|author-link1 = Will Durant

|orig-date = 1950

|title = The Age of Faith

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cusRoE1OJvEC

|series = Volume 4 of The Story of Civilization

|date = 7 June 2011

|publisher = Simon and Schuster

|publication-date = 2011

|isbn = 978-1-4516-4761-7

|access-date = 28 October 2021

}}

}}

or of the "decay" of a society's religiosity into corruption,

{{cite book

|title = The Norton History of Modern Europe

|year=1971 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gPX5rnMMBGUC

|publication-date = 1971

|page = 129

|access-date = 28 October 2021

|quote = Luther attacked not the corruption of institutions but what he believed to be the corruption of faith itself.

}}

secularism,

{{cite book

|last1 = Haught

|first1 = James A.

|title = Fading Faith: The Rise of the Secular Age

|year = 2010

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GdKZSQAACAAJ

|publisher = Gustav Broukal Press

|publication-date = 2010

|isbn = 978-1-57884-009-0

|access-date = 28 October 2021

}}

or atheism,

{{cite book

|last1 = Brown

|first1 = Callum G

|author-link1 = Callum G. Brown

|title = Becoming Atheist: Humanism and the Secular West

|date = 12 January 2017

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YnDBDQAAQBAJ

|location = London

|publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing

|publication-date = 2017

|page = 2

|isbn = 978-1-4742-2455-0

|access-date = 28 October 2021

|quote = By the 1990s, the liberalization of Western culture allowed the individual in most countries to be comfortably alienated from church and faith without fear of censure or social stigma [...].

}}—interpretable as the ultimate loss of faith.

{{cite book

|last1 = Kalla

|first1 = Krishen Lal

|title = The Mid-Victorian Literature and Loss of Faith

|year = 1989

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5aQgemN-y3YC

|edition = 1

|location = New Delhi

|publisher = Mittal Publications

|publication-date = 1989

|page = 205

|isbn = 978-81-7099-155-7

|access-date = 28 October 2021

|quote = In the mid-Victorian era [...] new scientific discoveries broke out giving rise to agnosticism, scepticism and atheism. All important writers of this age came under the influence of rationalism and their writings are a record of the struggle in their minds between faith and loss of faith. Some, like Swinburne and J. Thomson (B.V.) became atheists [...].

}}

In contrast to Richard Dawkins' view of faith as "blind trust, in the absence of evidence, even in the teeth of evidence",{{cite book|first=Richard|last=Dawkins|title=The Selfish Gene|edition=2nd|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1989|page=198}} Alister McGrath quotes the Oxford Anglican theologian W. H. Griffith Thomas (1861–1924), who states that faith is "not blind, but intelligent" and that it "commences with the conviction of the mind based on adequate evidence...", which McGrath sees as "a good and reliable definition, synthesizing the core elements of the characteristic Christian understanding of faith".{{cite book |last= McGrath |first= Alister E. | title= The Order of Things: Explorations in Scientific Theology | year= 2008 | publisher= John Wiley & Sons | isbn= 978-1-4051-2556-7 | page= 33 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WrRZBOxJzDcC}}

American biblical scholar Archibald Thomas Robertson (1863–1934) stated that the Greek word {{transliteration|grc|pistis}} used for "faith" in the New Testament (over two hundred forty times), and rendered "assurance" in {{bibleverse|Acts|17:31|kjv}}, is "an old verb meaning 'to furnish', used regularly by Demosthenes for bringing forward evidence."{{cite book | last= Robertson | first= Archibald Thomas | title= Word Pictures in the New Testament | at= Chapter 17 | url= http://www.ccel.org/ccel/robertson_at/wp_acts.xviii.html | access-date= 2014-01-26 | archive-date= 2015-01-08 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150108000717/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/robertson_at/wp_acts.xviii.html | url-status= live }} Tom Price (Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics) affirms that when the New Testament talks about faith positively it only uses words derived from the Greek root [{{transliteration|grc|pistis}}] which means "to be persuaded".{{cite web | last= Price | first= Thomas | title= Faith is about 'just trusting' God isn't It? | date= 9 November 2007 | url= https://www.bethinking.org/truth/faith-is-about-just-trusting-god-isnt-it | access-date= 23 January 2014 | archive-date= 21 February 2014 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140221173701/http://www.bethinking.org/bible-jesus/introductory/faith-is-about-just-trusting-god-isnt-it.htm | url-status= live }}

British Christian apologist John Lennox argues that "faith conceived as a belief that lacks warrant is very different from faith conceived as a belief that has warrant". He states that "the use of the adjective 'blind' to describe 'faith' indicates that faith is not necessarily, or always, or indeed normally, blind". "The validity, or warrant, of faith or belief depends on the strength of the evidence on which the belief is based." "We all know how to distinguish between blind faith and evidence-based faith. We are well aware that faith is only justified if there is evidence to back it up." "Evidence-based faith is the normal concept on which we base our everyday lives."{{cite book | last= Lennox | first= John | title= Gunning for God: Why the New Atheists Are Missing the Target |year= 2011 |publisher= Lion |location= United Kingdom | isbn= 978-0-7459-5322-9 | page= 55 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=kxBRhMYsadwC&q=faith+defined+as+warranted+based+on+evidence}}

Peter S. Williams holds that "the classic Christian tradition has always valued rationality and does not hold that faith involves the complete abandonment of reason while believing in the teeth of evidence".{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Peter S. |date=2013 |title=A Faithful Guide to Philosophy: A Christian Introduction to the Love of Wisdom |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DCEVL-8d-J4C |publisher=Authentic Media Inc |chapter=§1.4 |isbn=978-1-78078-310-9 |access-date=2023-05-29 |archive-date=2023-05-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529202228/https://books.google.com/books?id=DCEVL-8d-J4C&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }} Quoting Moreland, faith is defined as "a trust in and commitment to what we have reason to believe is true".

Regarding doubting Thomas in {{bibleverse|John|20:24–31}}, Williams points out that "Thomas wasn't asked to believe without evidence". He was asked to believe based on the other disciples' testimony. Thomas initially lacked the first-hand experience of the evidence that had convinced them... Moreover, the reason John gives for recounting these events is that what he saw is evidence... Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples... But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing ye might have life in his name. {{bibleverse|John|20:30–31}}."{{cite book | last= Williams | first= Peter S. | title= A Faithful Guide to Philosophy: A Christian Introduction to the Love of Wisdom | year= 2013 | publisher= Authentic Media | isbn= 978-1-84227-811-6 | pages= Chapter 1.4 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DCEVL-8d-J4C}}

Concerning doubting Thomas, Michael R. Allen wrote: "Thomas's definition of faith implies adherence to conceptual propositions for the sake of personal knowledge, knowledge of and about a person qua person".{{cite book |last1= Allen |first1= Michael |title= The Christ's Faith: A Dogmatic Account |date= 2009 |publisher= T&T Clark Studies in Systematic Theology |location= London |isbn= 978-0-567-03399-4 |page= 80}}

Kenneth Boa and Robert M. Bowman Jr. describe a classic understanding of faith that is referred to as evidentialism, and which is part of a larger epistemological tradition called classical foundationalism, which is accompanied by deontologism, which holds that humans must regulate their beliefs following evidentialist structures. They show how this can go too far,{{how|date=July 2023}}{{cite book | last1= Boa | first1= Kenneth | first2= Robert M.|last2=Bowman | title= Faith Has Its Reasons: Integrative Approaches to Defending the Christian Faith | date= March 1, 2006 | publisher= IVP Books | location= USA | isbn= 978-0-8308-5648-0 | page= 253 }} and Alvin Plantinga {{clarify|text=deals with it.|date=July 2023}} While Plantinga upholds that faith may be the result of evidence testifying to the reliability of the source (of the truth claims), yet he sees having faith as being the result of hearing the truth of the gospel with the internal persuasion by the Holy Spirit moving and enabling him to believe. "Christian belief is produced in the believer by the internal instigation of the Holy Spirit, endorsing the teachings of Scripture, which is itself divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. The result of the work of the Holy Spirit is faith."{{cite book | last= Plantinga | first= Alvin | title= Warranted Christian Belief | url= https://archive.org/details/warrantedchristi0000plan | url-access= registration | year= 2000 | publisher= Oxford University Press |location= USA |isbn= 0-19-513192-4 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/warrantedchristi0000plan/page/250 250], 291}}

The four-part Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) gives Part One to "The Profession of Faith". This section describes the content of faith. It elaborates and expands, particularly upon the Apostles' Creed. CCC 144 initiates a section on the "Obedience of Faith".{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

In the theology of Pope John Paul II, faith is understood in personal terms as a trusting commitment of person to person and thus involves Christian commitment to the divine person of Jesus Christ.{{cite book |last1= Dulles |first1=Avery |author-link1= Avery Dulles |title= The Splendor of Faith: The Theological Vision of Pope John Paul II |date= 2003 |publisher= Crossroad Publishing Company |location= New York |isbn= 0-8245-2121-8 |pages= vii-viii}}

In Methodism, faith plays an important role in justification, which occurs during the New Birth.{{cite book|last= Elwell|first= Walter A.|title= Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Baker Reference Library)|date=1 May 2001|publisher=Baker Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-4412-0030-3|page=1268|quote= This balance is most evident in Wesley's understanding of faith and works, justification and sanctification... Wesley, in a sermon entitled 'Justification by Faith', makes an attempt to define the term accurately. First, he states what justification is not. It is not being made actually just and righteous (that is sanctification). It is not being cleared of the accusations of Satan, nor of the law, nor even of God. We have sinned, so the accusation stands. Justification implies pardon, the forgiveness of sins...Ultimately for the true Wesleyan salvation is completed by our return to original righteousness. This is done by the work of the Holy Spirit...The Wesleyan tradition insists that grace is not contrasted with law but with the works of the law. Wesleyans remind us that Jesus came to fulfill, not destroy the law. God made us in his perfect image, and he wants that image restored. He wants to return us to a full and perfect obedience through the process of sanctification... Good works follow after justification as its inevitable fruit. Wesley insisted that Methodists who did not fulfill all righteousness deserved the hottest place in the lake of fire. }} The Emmanuel Association, a Methodist denomination in the conservative holiness movement, teaches:

{{blockquote|Living faith is the gift of God ({{bibleverse|Ephesians|2:8}}; {{Bibleverse|Romans|4:16}}) imparted to the obedient heart through the Word of God ({{Bibleverse|Romans|10:17}}), and the ministry of the Holy Ghost ({{Bibleverse|Ephesians|2:18}}). This faith becomes effective as it is exercised by man with the aid of the Spirit, which aid is always assured when the heart has met the divine condition ({{Bibleverse|Hebrews|5:9}}). Living faith is to be distinguished from intellectual confidence which may be in the possession of any unawakened soul ({{Bibleverse|Romans|10:1–4}}).|Principles of Faith, Emmanuel Association of Churches{{cite book |title= Guidebook of the Emmanuel Association of Churches |date= 2002 |publisher= Emmanuel Association |location= Logansport |page=7 |language=English}}}}

The Articles of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states that "faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" is the first principle of the gospel.

Some alternative, yet impactful, ideas regarding the nature of faith were presented by church founder Joseph SmithSmith was not the sole author: {{Cite web|url= https://rsc.byu.edu/lectures-faith-historical-perspective/authorship-history-lectures-faith|title= Authorship and History of the Lectures on Faith|website= Religious Studies Center|access-date= 2020-03-06|archive-date= 2020-06-25|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200625162903/https://rsc.byu.edu/lectures-faith-historical-perspective/authorship-history-lectures-faith|url-status= live}} in a collection of sermons, which are now published as the Lectures on Faith.{{cite book |url= https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/lectures-faith-historical-perspective/lectures-faith-1990-edited-version/lecture-1 |title= Lectures on Faith|access-date= 2018-10-08|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181008095718/https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/lectures-faith-historical-perspective/lectures-faith-1990-edited-version/lecture-1|archive-date= 2018-10-08 }}

• Lecture 1 explains what faith is;
• Lecture 2 describes how mankind comes to know about God;
• Lectures 3 and 4 make clear the necessary and unchanging attributes of God;
• Lecture 5 deals with the nature of God the Father, his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost;
• Lecture 6 proclaims that the willingness to sacrifice all earthly things is a prerequisite to gaining faith in salvation;
• Lecture 7 treats the fruits of faith—perspective, power, and eventually perfection.

{{cite book

|chapter-url= https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/lectures-faith-historical-perspective/authorship-and-history-lectures-faith

|last1= Dahl|first1= Larry E.

|chapter= Authorship and History of the Lectures on Faith

|title=The Lectures on Faith in Historical Perspective

|publisher= Brigham Young University, Religious Studies Center

|location= Provo, Utah |access-date= 2018-10-08

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181008061433/https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/lectures-faith-historical-perspective/authorship-and-history-lectures-faith|archive-date= 2018-10-08

}}{{Date missing}}

{{Main|Faith in Buddhism}}

Faith in Buddhism ({{transliteration|pi|saddhā}}, {{transliteration|sa|śraddhā}}) refers to a serene commitment to the practice of the Buddha's teaching and trust in enlightened or highly developed beings, such as Buddhas or bodhisattvas (those aiming to become a Buddha).{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Gómez|first1=Luis O.|editor1-last=Buswell|editor1-first=Robert E.|editor1-link=Robert Buswell Jr.|title=Faith|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Buddhism|date=2004|publisher=Macmillan Reference USA, Thomson Gale|location=New York [u.a.]|isbn=0-02-865720-9|url=http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Encyclopedia%20of%20Buddhism_2%20Vols_%20Buswell.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912051354/http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Encyclopedia%20of%20Buddhism_2%20Vols_%20Buswell.pdf|archive-date=September 12, 2015|pages=277–9}}{{Citation|url=http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/early%20buddhist%20theory%20of%20knowledge_jayatilleke.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911084454/http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Early%20Buddhist%20Theory%20of%20Knowledge_Jayatilleke.pdf |archive-date=2015-09-11 |last1=Jayatilleke|first1=K.N.|author-link1=K.N. Jayatilleke|title=Early Buddhist theory of knowledge|date=1963|publisher=George Allen & Unwin|isbn=1-134-54287-9}}{{rp|388–89}} Buddhists usually recognize multiple objects of faith, but many are especially devoted to one particular object of faith, such as one particular Buddha.{{r|Jayatilleke1963|pages=386, 396–7}}{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Kinnard|first1=Jacob N.|editor1-last=Buswell|editor1-first=Robert E.|editor1-link=Robert Buswell Jr.|title=Worship|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Buddhism|date=2004|publisher=Macmillan Reference USA, Thomson Gale|location=New York [u.a.]|isbn=0-02-865720-9|url=http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Encyclopedia%20of%20Buddhism_2%20Vols_%20Buswell.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912051354/http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Encyclopedia%20of%20Buddhism_2%20Vols_%20Buswell.pdf|archive-date=September 12, 2015|page=907}}

In early Buddhism, faith was focused on the Three Jewels or Refuges, namely, Gautama Buddha, his teaching (the Dhamma), and the community of spiritually developed followers, or the monastic community seeking enlightenment (the Sangha). Although offerings to the monastic community were valued highest, early Buddhism did not morally condemn peaceful offerings to deities.{{Citation|url=http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/History%20of%20Indian%20Buddhism_Lamotte.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215111618/http://ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/History%20of%20Indian%20Buddhism_Lamotte.pdf |archive-date=2015-02-15 |last1=Lamotte|first1=Etienne|author-link1=Etienne Lamotte|translator-first=Sara|translator-last=Webb-Boin|title=Histoire du Bouddhisme Indien, des origines à l'ère Śaka|language=fr|trans-title=History of Indian Buddhism: from the origins to the Saka era|date=1988|publisher=Université catholique de Louvain, Institut orientaliste|location=Louvain-la-Neuve|isbn=90-6831-100-X}}

{{rp|74–5, 81}} A faithful devotee was called upāsaka or upāsika, for which no formal declaration was required.{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Tremblay|first1=Xavier|editor1-last=Heirman|editor1-first=Ann|editor2-last=Bumbacher|editor2-first=Stephan Peter|encyclopedia=The spread of Buddhism|title=The spread of Buddhism in Serindia|date=2007|publisher=Brill Publishers|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-15830-6|edition=online|page=87}} In early Buddhism, personal verification was valued highest in attaining the truth, and sacred scriptures, reason, or faith in a teacher were considered less valuable sources of authority.{{cite book|last1=Fuller|first1=Paul|title=The notion of diṭṭhi in Theravāda Buddhism: the point of view|date=2004|publisher=RoutledgeCurzon|location=London|isbn=0-203-01043-4|page=36}}{{dead link|date=February 2018}} As important as faith was, it was a mere initial step to the path to wisdom and enlightenment, and was obsolete or redefined at the final stage of that path.{{r|Lamotte1988|pages=49–50}}{{r|Jayatilleke1963|pages=384, 396–7}}

While faith in Buddhism does not imply "blind faith", Buddhist practice nevertheless requires a degree of trust, primarily in the spiritual attainment of Gautama Buddha. Faith in Buddhism can still be described as faith in the Three Jewels (the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha). It is intended to lead to the goal of enlightenment, or bodhi, and Nirvana. Volitionally, faith implies a resolute and courageous act of will. It combines the steadfast resolution that one will do a thing with the self-confidence that one can do it.{{cite book|title=The Way of Wisdom: The Five Spiritual Faculties|first=Edward|last=Conze|author-link=Edward Conze|year=1993|url=https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/conze/wheel065.html|publisher=Buddhist Publication Society|isbn=978-955-24-0110-7|access-date=2009-01-19|archive-date=2008-12-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223234330/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/conze/wheel065.html|url-status=live}}

In the later stratum of Buddhist history, especially Mahāyāna Buddhism, faith was given a much more important role.{{Citation|last1=Harvey|first1=Peter|author-link1=Peter Harvey|title=An introduction to Buddhism: teachings, history and practices|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-521-85942-4|edition=2nd|url=https://toleratedindividuality.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/an-introduction-to-buddhism-teachings-history-and-practices.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220094935/https://toleratedindividuality.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/an-introduction-to-buddhism-teachings-history-and-practices.pdf |archive-date=2017-02-20 |url-status=live}}{{rp|172}}{{cite book|last1=Leaman|first1=Oliver|author-link=Oliver Leaman|url=http://www.mohamedrabeea.com/books/book1_9036.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150515122643/http://mohamedrabeea.com/books/book1_9036.pdf|archive-date=2015-05-15|title=Eastern philosophy: key readings|date=2000|publisher=Routledge|location=London [u.a.]|isbn=0-415-17357-4|page=212}} The concept of the Buddha Nature was developed, as devotion to Buddhas and bodhisattvas residing in Pure Lands became commonplace.{{multiref2

|1={{cite encyclopedia|last1=Bielefeldt|first1=Carl|editor1-last=Buswell|editor1-first=Robert E.|editor1-link=Robert Buswell Jr.|title=Japan|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Buddhism|date=2004|publisher=Macmillan Reference USA, Thomson Gale|location=New York [u.a.]|isbn=0-02-865720-9|url=http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Encyclopedia%20of%20Buddhism_2%20Vols_%20Buswell.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912051354/http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Encyclopedia%20of%20Buddhism_2%20Vols_%20Buswell.pdf|archive-date=September 12, 2015|pages=389–90}}

|2={{cite encyclopedia|last1=Reynolds|first1=Frank E.|last2=Hallisey|first2=Charles|author-link2=Charles Hallisey|editor1-last=Jones|editor1-first=Lindsay|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of religion|title=Buddha|date=1987|publisher=Thomson Gale|location=Detroit|isbn=0-02-865997-X|edition=2nd|url=https://www.politicalavenue.com/PDF/ENCYCLOPEDIAS/The%20Gale%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Religion%202nd%20Ed%20Vol.%202.pdf|volume=2|page=1068|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302073830/https://www.politicalavenue.com/PDF/ENCYCLOPEDIAS/The%20Gale%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Religion%202nd%20Ed%20Vol.%202.pdf|archive-date=2017-03-02}}

}} With the arising of the cult of the Lotus Sūtra, faith gained a central role in Buddhist practice,{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Shields|first1=James Mark|editor1-last=Emmanuel|editor1-first=Steven M.|encyclopedia=A companion to Buddhist philosophy|title=Political Interpretations of the Lotus Sūtra|date=2013|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|location=Chichester, West Sussex|isbn=978-0-470-65877-2|url=http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/A%20Companion%20to%20Buddhist%20Philosophy_Emmanuel.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316084217/http://ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/A%20Companion%20to%20Buddhist%20Philosophy_Emmanuel.pdf|archive-date=March 16, 2015|pages=512, 514}} which was further amplified with the development of devotion to the Amitabha Buddha in Pure Land Buddhism.{{cite encyclopedia|editor-last1=Cheng|editor-first1=Linsun|editor-last2=Brown|editor-first2=Kerry|last=Hsieh|first=Ding-hwa|encyclopedia=Berkshire encyclopedia of China|title=Buddhism, Pure Land|date=2009|publisher=Berkshire Publishing Group|location=Great Barrington, MA|isbn=978-0-9770159-4-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0_Z2AQAACAAJ|pages=236–7}}{{Citation|last1=Green|first1=Ronald S.|editor1-last=Emmanuel|editor1-first=Steven M.|encyclopedia=A companion to Buddhist philosophy|title=East Asian Buddhism|date=2013|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|location=Chichester, West Sussex|isbn=978-0-470-65877-2|url=http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/A%20Companion%20to%20Buddhist%20Philosophy_Emmanuel.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316084217/http://ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/A%20Companion%20to%20Buddhist%20Philosophy_Emmanuel.pdf|archive-date=March 16, 2015}}{{rp|123}} In the Japanese form of Pure Land Buddhism, under the teachers Hōnen and Shinran, only entrusting faith toward the Amitabha Buddha was believed to be a fruitful form of practice, as the practice of celibacy, morality, and other Buddhist disciplines were dismissed as no longer effective in this day and age, or as contradicting the virtue of faith.{{r|Green2013|pages=122–3}}{{r|Harvey2013|pages=230, 255}}{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Hudson|first1=Clarke|editor1-last=Jones|editor1-first=Lindsay|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of religion|title=Buddhist meditation: East Asian Buddhist meditation|date=2005|publisher=Thomson Gale|location=Detroit|isbn=0-02-865997-X|edition=2nd|url=https://www.politicalavenue.com/PDF/ENCYCLOPEDIAS/The%20Gale%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Religion%202nd%20Ed%20Vol.%202.pdf|volume=2|page=1294|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302073830/https://www.politicalavenue.com/PDF/ENCYCLOPEDIAS/The%20Gale%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Religion%202nd%20Ed%20Vol.%202.pdf|archive-date=2017-03-02}} Faith was defined as a state similar to enlightenment, with a sense of self-negation and humility.{{multiref2

|1={{cite book|last1=Conze|first1=Edward|author-link1=Edward Conze|title=Buddhism, its essence and development|date=2003|orig-date=1951|publisher=Dover Publications|location=Mineola, N.Y.|isbn=0-486-43095-2|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/86358877/Buddhism-Its-Essence-and-Development-Edward-Conze|page=158|access-date=2017-11-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122132949/https://www.scribd.com/document/86358877/Buddhism-Its-Essence-and-Development-Edward-Conze|archive-date=2017-11-22}}

|2={{cite book|last1=Dobbins|first1=James C.|author-link1=James C. Dobbins|title=Jodo Shinshu: Shin Buddhism in medieval Japan|date=2002|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=0-8248-2620-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xb3BImNUdRAC|pages=34–5}}

}}

Thus, the role of faith increased throughout Buddhist history. However, from the nineteenth century onward, Buddhist modernism in countries like Sri Lanka and Japan, and also in the West, has downplayed and criticized the role of faith in Buddhism. Faith in Buddhism still has a role in modern Asia and the West but is understood and defined differently than in traditional interpretations.{{r|Harvey2013|pages=378, 429, 444}}{{multiref2

|1={{cite book|last1=Gombrich|first1=Richard F.|author-link1=Richard F. Gombrich|title=Theravāda Buddhism: a social history from ancient Benares to modern Colombo|url=https://discourse.suttacentral.net/uploads/default/original/2X/d/d5fea775dea49f4d9b780f0e88a40f862bfb1356.pdf|date=2006|publisher=Routledge|location=London [u.a.]|isbn=0-415-36508-2|edition=2nd|pages=196–7|access-date=2017-11-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117004527/https://discourse.suttacentral.net/uploads/default/original/2X/d/d5fea775dea49f4d9b780f0e88a40f862bfb1356.pdf|archive-date=2017-11-17}}

|2={{cite encyclopedia|last1=Ahn|first1=Juhn|editor1-last=Buswell|editor1-first=Robert E.|editor1-link=Robert Buswell Jr.|title=Popular conceptions of Zen|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Buddhism|date=2004|publisher=Macmillan Reference USA, Thomson Gale|location=New York [u.a.]|isbn=0-02-865720-9|url=http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Encyclopedia%20of%20Buddhism_2%20Vols_%20Buswell.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912051354/http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Encyclopedia%20of%20Buddhism_2%20Vols_%20Buswell.pdf|archive-date=September 12, 2015|page=924}}

}} Within the Dalit Buddhist Movement communities, taking refuge is defined not only as a religious, but also a political choice.{{cite news|last1=Dore|first1=Bhavya|title=Rising caste-related violence pushes many Indians to new faith|url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/houston-belief/article/Rising-caste-related-violence-pushes-many-Indians-9523647.php|access-date=23 September 2017|work=Houston Chronicle|agency=Hearst Newspapers|publisher=Religion News Service|date=1 October 2016|archive-date=24 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924045746/http://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/houston-belief/article/Rising-caste-related-violence-pushes-many-Indians-9523647.php|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Bhakti|Faith in Hinduism}}

Bhakti ({{langx|sa|भक्ति}}) literally means "attachment, participation, fondness for, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship, purity".Monier-Williams, Sanskrit Dictionary, 1899.{{full citation needed|date=July 2023}} It was originally used in Hinduism, referring to devotion and love for a personal god or a representational god by a devotee.{{multiref2

|1={{cite encyclopedia|chapter-url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/63933/bhakti|chapter=Bhakti|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229174330/https://www.britannica.com/topic/bhakti |archive-date=2020-12-29|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|year=2009 |title=Bhakti | Hinduism, Devotion & Rituals | Britannica }}

|2={{Cite book |last=Pechelis |first=Karen |title=The Continuum Companion to Hindu Studies |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8264-9966-0 |editor-last=Frazier |editor-first=Jessica |pages=107–121 |chapter=Bhakti Traditions |editor-last2=Flood |editor-first2=Gavin}}

}} In ancient texts such as the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, the term simply means participation, devotion, and love for any endeavor, while in the Bhagavad Gita, it connotes one of the possible paths of spirituality and towards moksha, as in {{transliteration|sa|bhakti marga}}.{{cite book|first=John|last=Lochtefeld|year=2014|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism|publisher=Rosen Publishing|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8239-2287-1|pages=98–100}} Also see articles on {{transliteration|sa|bhaktimārga}} and {{transliteration|sa|jnanamārga}}.

Ahimsa, also referred to as nonviolence, is a fundamental tenet of Hinduism that advocates harmonious and peaceful co-existence and evolutionary growth in grace and wisdom for all humankind unconditionally.{{relevance inline|reason=unclear how this relates to "faith" specifically|date=July 2023}}

In Hinduism, most of the Vedic prayers begins with the chants of Om. Om is the Sanskrit symbol that amazingly resonates the peacefulness ensconced within one's higher self. Om is considered to have a profound effect on the body and mind of the one who chants and also creates a calmness, serenity, healing, strength of its own to prevail within and also in the surrounding environment.{{relevance inline|reason=unclear how this relates to "faith" specifically|date=July 2023}}

{{Main|Iman (Islam)}}

In Islam, a believer's faith in the metaphysical aspects of Islam is called {{transliteration|ar|Iman}} ({{langx|ar|{{large|الإيمان}}}}), which is complete submission to the will of God, not unquestioning or blind belief.{{multiref2

|1={{cite book|last=al-Farāhī|first=Hamīd al-Dīn|title=Majmū'ah Tafāsīr|edition=2nd|publisher=Faran Foundation|year=1998|page=347}}

|2={{cite book|first=Frederick M.|last=Denny|title=An Introduction to Islam|edition=3rd|page=405}}

}} A man must build his faith on well-grounded convictions beyond any reasonable doubt and above uncertainty.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gLi2X1rzeZIC&q=build+his+faith+on+well-grounded+convictions&pg=PA108|title=Encountering the World of Islam|last=Swartley|first=Keith E.|date=2005-11-02|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=978-0-8308-5644-2|language=en}} According to the Quran, {{transliteration|ar|Iman}} must be accompanied by righteous deeds and the two together are necessary for entry into Paradise.{{qref|95|6|b=y}} In the Hadith of Gabriel, {{transliteration|ar|Iman}} in addition to Islam and {{transliteration|ar|Ihsan}} form the three dimensions of the Islamic religion.

Muhammad referred to the six axioms of faith in the Hadith of Gabriel: "{{transliteration|ar|Iman}} is that you believe in God and His Angels and His Books and His Messengers and the Hereafter and the good and evil fate [ordained by your God]."Muslim, Al-Jami' al-sahih, 22, (no. 93). The first five are mentioned together in the Qur'an.{{qref|2|285|b=y}} The Quran states that faith can grow with remembrance of God.{{qref|8|2|b=y}} The Qur'an also states that nothing in this world should be dearer to a true believer than faith.{{qref|9|24|b=y}}

{{Main|Jewish principles of faith}}

Judaism recognizes the positive value of {{transliteration|he|Emunah}}{{cite web |url= https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1398519/jewish/Emunah.htm |title=What Is Emunah – Beyond Belief – Essentials |work= chabad.org |access-date= 14 October 2015 |archive-date= 17 April 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200417071602/https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1398519/jewish/Emunah.htm |url-status= live }} (generally translated as "faith", or "trust in God") and the negative status of the {{transliteration|he|Apikorus}} (heretic), but faith is not as stressed or as central as it is in some other religions, especially Christianity or Islam.{{cite book|first= Alan|last= Segal|title= Paul the Convert|year= 1990|pages= 128, 148, 175|publisher= Yale University Press |quote= "For a Jew, faith fundamentally precedes anything as well, but there is no need to distinguish between it and law. Jews perform the commandments because they are commanded by God, not because they guarantee justification. This arrangement assumes a prior faith commitment and prior act on God's part in justifying that never needs to be discussed"..."For Paul, giving up special claims to the performance of ceremonial Torah was part of his dissonance over leaving Pharisiasism and entering an apocalyptic community based on faith".."The rabbi..."felt individuals maintain righteousness through observing God's commandments"..."Paul"..."through faith,"..."justification is something that God grants in response to faith and thought the rabbis would not disagree they did not see Torah and faith in opposition"|isbn= 0-300-04527-1}} Faith could be a necessary means for being a practicing religious Jew, but the emphasis is placed on true knowledge, true prophecy, and practice rather than on faith itself. Very rarely does it relate to any teaching that must be believed. Judaism does not require one to explicitly identify God (a key tenet of Christian faith, which is called Avodah Zarah (foreign worship) in Judaism, a minor form of idol worship, a big sin and strictly forbidden to Jews). Rather, in Judaism, one is to honor a (personal) idea of God, supported by the many principles quoted in the Talmud to define Judaism, mostly by what it is not. Thus there is no established formulation of Jewish principles of faith which are mandatory for all (observant) Jews.

In the Jewish scriptures, trust in God – {{transliteration|he|Emunah}} – refers to how God acts toward his people and how they are to respond to him; it is rooted in the everlasting covenant established in the Torah, notably{{Cite book |last=Brueggemann |first= Walter |year= 2002 |title= Reverberations of faith: a theological handbook of Old Testament themes |pages=76–78 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dBJQ71RIpdMC&q=faith+in+the+old+testament |isbn= 0-664-22231-5 |publisher= Westminster John Knox Press |location=Louisville, Ky.}} Deuteronomy 7:9:

{{Blockquote|text= Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God; the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations;{{cite book|title= The Torah – A Modern Commentary|publisher= Union of American Hebrew Congregations|location= N.Y.|year= 1981|author-first= W.G.|author-last= Plaut}}|sign=Tanakh|source={{Bibleverse|Deuteronomy|7:9|JPS}}}}

The specific tenets that compose required belief and their application to the times have been disputed throughout Jewish history. Today many, but not all, Orthodox Jews have accepted Maimonides's Thirteen Principles of Belief.{{multiref2

|1={{cite web|url= http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/cjso/Chabad/moshiach/techiya-masim.html|title= The 13 Principles and the Resurrection of the Dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060208182008/http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/cjso/Chabad/moshiach/techiya-masim.html |archive-date= 2006-02-08 |website= The Wolf Shall Lie With the Lamb|author= Rabbi Shmuel Boteach}}

|2=For a history of this dispute see: {{cite book|last= Shapiro|first= Marc|title= The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides' Thirteen Principles Reappraised|series= Littman Library of Jewish Civilization}}

}}

A traditional example of {{transliteration|he|Emunah}} as seen in the Jewish annals is found in the person of Abraham. On several occasions, Abraham both accepts statements from God that seem impossible and offers obedient actions in response to direction from God to do things that seem implausible.{{bibleverse|Genesis|12–15}}

The Talmud describes how a thief also believes in G‑d: On the brink of his forced entry, as he is about to risk his life—and the life of his victim—he cries out with all sincerity, "G‑d help me!" The thief has faith that there is a G‑d who hears his cries, yet it escapes him that this G‑d may be able to provide for him without requiring that he abrogate G‑d's will by stealing from others. For {{transliteration|he|emunah}} to affect him in this way he needs study and contemplation.

{{Main|Sikhism|Five Ks}}

Faith is not a religious concept in Sikhism. However, the five Sikh symbols, known as Kakaars or Five Ks (in Punjabi known as {{transliteration|pa|pañj kakkē}} or {{transliteration|pa|pañj kakār}}), are sometimes referred to as the Five articles of Faith. The articles include {{transliteration|pa|kēs}} (uncut hair), {{transliteration|pa|kaṅghā}} (small wooden comb), {{transliteration|pa|kaṛā}} (circular steel or iron bracelet), {{transliteration|pa|kirpān}} (sword/dagger), and {{transliteration|pa|kacchera}} (special undergarment). Baptised Sikhs are bound to wear those five articles of faith, at all times, to save them from bad company and keep them close to God.{{cite web|url=http://www.realsikhism.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1193703788&ucat=5|title=Sikhism: Five Articles of Faith|work=realsikhism.com|access-date=14 October 2015|archive-date=7 October 2015|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007031508/http://www.realsikhism.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1193703788&ucat=5}}

In the Baháʼí Faith, faith is meant, first, as conscious knowledge, second, as the practice of good deeds,{{Cite web|title=The Bahá'í Community of Canada|url=https://www.bahai.ca/belief-and-learning-in-action/personal-transformation/#:~:text=%27Abdu%27l-Bah%C3%A1%20wrote,with%20our%20time%20and%20resources.|access-date=2022-02-22|website=www.bahai.ca|language=en|archive-date=2022-02-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220222164338/https://www.bahai.ca/belief-and-learning-in-action/personal-transformation/#:~:text=%27Abdu%27l-Bah%C3%A1%20wrote,with%20our%20time%20and%20resources.|url-status=live}} and ultimately as the acceptance of the divine authority of the Manifestations of God.{{cite book |last=Smith |first=P. |year=1999 |title=A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baháʼí Faith |publisher=Oneworld Publications |location=Oxford, UK |page=[https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope0000smit/page/155 155] |isbn=1-85168-184-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope0000smit/page/155 }} In the religion's view, faith and knowledge are both required for spiritual growth. Faith involves more than outward obedience to this authority, but also must be based on a deep personal understanding of religious teachings.

{{see also|Secular religion}}

Secular faith refers to a belief or conviction that is not based on religious or supernatural doctrines.{{multiref2

|1={{cite book|title=Forbidden Fruit: The Ethics of Secularism|date=November 25, 2008|first=Paul|last=Kurtz}}

|2={{cite book|title=Society without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment|first=Phil|last=Zuckerman}}

}} Secular faith can arise from a wide range of sources and can take many forms, depending on the individual's beliefs and experiences, including:

; Philosophy: Many secular beliefs are rooted in philosophical ideas, such as humanism or rationalism. These belief systems often emphasize the importance of reason, ethics, and human agency, rather than relying on supernatural or religious explanations. A prime example is the philosopher Immanuel Kant, whose deontological ethical theory has profoundly shaped western secular values from the 18th century onward. He professed a secular faith in reason, writing in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals that "the true vocation of reason must be to produce a will that is good, not perhaps as a means to other purposes, but good in itself, for which reason was absolutely necessary. This will need not, because of this, be the sole and complete good, but it must still be the highest good and the condition of every other, even of all demands for happiness."{{cite book |last=Kant |first=Immanuel |date=1999 |title=Practical Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN9780521654081 |translator-last1=Gregor |translator-first1=Mary J. |location= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=52 |isbn=9780521654081 |access-date=23 February 2025}}

; Personal values and principles: People may develop secular faith based on their own values and principles, such as a belief in social justice or environmentalism.

; Community and culture: Secular faith can also be influenced by the values and beliefs of a particular community or culture. For example, some people may have faith in the principles of democracy, human rights, or freedom of expression.

{{redirect|justification of faith|the concept of justification by faith|sola fide}}

{{see also|Epistemology}}

The epistemological study focuses on epistemic justification, the rationality of belief, and various related issues. A justified belief is a belief that is well-supported by evidence and reasons, and that is arrived at through a reliable and trustworthy process of inquiry.

Faith is often regarded as a form of belief that may not necessarily rely on empirical evidence. However, when religious faith does make empirical claims, these claims need to undergo scientific testing to determine their validity. On the other hand, some beliefs may not make empirical claims and instead focus on non-empirical issues such as ethics, morality, and spiritual practices. In these cases, it may be necessary to evaluate the validity of these beliefs based on their internal coherence and logical consistency, rather than empirical testing.

There is a wide spectrum of opinion concerning the epistemological validity of faith{{cite book |last=Lewis|first=C. S. |author-link=C. S. Lewis |title=Mere Christianity: a revised and amplified edition, with a new introduction, of the three books, Broadcast talks, Christian behaviour, and Beyond personality |publisher=HarperSanFrancisco |location=San Francisco |year=2001 |isbn=0-06-065292-6}} — that is, whether it is a reliable way to acquire true beliefs.

{{Main|Fideism}}

Fideism is considered to be a philosophical position rather than a comprehensive epistemological theory. It maintains that faith is independent of reason, or that reason and faith are hostile to each other and faith is superior at arriving at particular truths (see natural theology). Fideism is not a synonym for religious belief but describes a particular philosophical proposition concerning the relationship between faith's appropriate jurisdiction at arriving at truths, contrasted against reason. It states that faith is needed to determine some philosophical and religious truths, and it questions the ability of reason to arrive at all truth. The word and concept had its origin in the mid to late-19th century by way of Catholic thought, in a movement called Traditionalism. The Roman Catholic Magisterium has, however, repeatedly condemned fideism.{{cite encyclopedia|first=Richard|last=Amesbury|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/fideism/|title=Fideism|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|access-date=14 October 2015}}

Critics of fideism suggest that it is not a justified or rational position from an epistemological standpoint. Fideism holds that religious beliefs cannot be justified or evaluated based on evidence or reason and that faith alone is a sufficient basis for belief. This position has been criticized because it leads to dogmatism, irrationality, and a rejection of the importance of reason and evidence in understanding the world.{{cite book|last=Audi|first=R.|year=2005|chapter=Fideism|title=The Cambridge dictionary of philosophy|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}

William Alston argues that while faith is an important aspect of religious belief, it must be grounded in reason and evidence to be justified.{{cite book|last=Alston|first=W.P.|year=1986|title=Divine nature and human language: Essays in philosophical theology|publisher=Cornell University Press}}

{{see also|Religious epistemology|reformed epistemology|foundationalism|basic belief}}

Religious epistemologists formulated and defended reasons for the rationality of accepting belief in God without the support of an argument.{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://iep.utm.edu/relig-ep/ |title=Religious Epistemology |last=Clark|first=Kelly James |date=2 October 2004 |encyclopedia=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |access-date=23 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103164220/http://www.iep.utm.edu/relig-ep/ |archive-date=3 November 2011 |url-status=live }} Some religious epistemologists hold that belief in God is more analogous to belief in a person than belief in a scientific hypothesis. Human relations demand trust and commitment. If belief in God is more like belief in other persons, then the trust that is appropriate to persons will be appropriate to God. American psychologist and philosopher William James offers a similar argument in his lecture The Will to Believe.{{cite journal |last=James |first=William |title=1896 |journal=New World |volume=5 |pages=327–347 |url=https://educ.jmu.edu//~omearawm/ph101willtobelieve.html |access-date=23 October 2011 |archive-date=7 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007233257/http://educ.jmu.edu/~omearawm/ph101willtobelieve.html |url-status=live }}

Foundationalism is a view about the structure of justification or knowledge.{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://iep.utm.edu/foundationalism-in-epistemology/ |title=Foundationalism |last=Poston|first=Ted |date=10 June 2010 |encyclopedia=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |access-date=23 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103033308/http://www.iep.utm.edu/found-ep/ |archive-date=3 November 2011 |url-status=live }} Foundationalism holds that all knowledge and justified belief are ultimately based upon what are called properly basic beliefs. This position is intended to resolve the infinite regress problem in epistemology. According to foundationalism, a belief is epistemically justified only if it is justified by properly basic beliefs. One of the significant developments in foundationalism is the rise of reformed epistemology.

Reformed epistemology is a view about the epistemology of religious belief, which holds that belief in God can be properly basic. Analytic philosophers Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff develop this view.{{cite book |title=Faith and Rationality: Reason and Belief in God |last1=Plantinga |first1=Alvin |author-link=Alvin Plantinga |first2=Nicholas|last2= Wolterstorff |year=1983 |publisher=University of Notre Dame Press |location=Notre Dame, IN |isbn=0-268-00964-3 }} Plantinga holds that a person may rationally believe in God even though the person does not possess sufficient evidence to convince an agnostic. One difference between reformed epistemology and fideism is that the former requires defense against known objections, whereas the latter might dismiss such objections as irrelevant.{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/religion-epistemology/ |title=The Epistemology of Religion |last=Forrest|first= Peter |date=11 March 2009 |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |access-date=23 October 2011 }} Plantinga developed reformed epistemology in Warranted Christian Belief as a form of externalism that holds that the justification-conferring factors for a belief may include external factors.{{cite book |title=Warranted Christian Belief |url=https://archive.org/details/warrantedchristi0000plan |url-access=registration |last=Plantinga |first=Alvin |author-link=Alvin Plantinga |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-19-513192-4 }}

Some theistic philosophers have defended theism by granting evidentialism but supporting theism through deductive arguments whose premises are considered justifiable. Some of these arguments are probabilistic, either in the sense of having weight but being inconclusive or in the sense of having a mathematical probability assigned to them. Notable in this regard are the cumulative arguments presented by British philosopher Basil Mitchell and analytic philosopher Richard Swinburne, whose arguments are based on Bayesian probability.{{multiref2

|1={{cite book |title=The Justification of Religious Belief |last=Basic |first=Mitchell |author-link=Basil Mitchell (academic) |publisher=Macmillan |location=London }}

|2={{cite book |title=The Existence of God |last=Swinburne |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Swinburne |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford}}

}} In a notable exposition of his arguments, Swinburne appeals to an inference for the best explanation.{{multiref2

|1={{cite book |title=God without the Supernatural |url=https://archive.org/details/godwithoutsupern00forr_0 |url-access=registration |last=Forrest |first=Peter |year=1996 | author-link=Peter Forrest (philosopher) |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca |isbn=978-0-8014-3255-2 }}

|2={{cite book |title=Is there a God? |last=Swinburne |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Swinburne |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford}}

}}

Professor of Mathematics and philosopher of science at University of Oxford John Lennox justifies his religious belief in Jesus's resurrection and miracles by believing God's capability of breaking the commonly recognized law of nature.{{cite web|title=God Delusion Debate (Dawkins – Lennox)|website=YouTube|date=8 February 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF5bPI92-5o|quote=...having produced some sort of a case for a kind of deistic God, perhaps some God — The Great Physicist who adjusted the laws and constants of the universe. That's all very grand and wonderful and then suddenly we come down to the resurrection of Jesus. It's so petty, it's so trivial...|access-date=2023-03-06|archive-date=2023-03-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326025938/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF5bPI92-5o&t=172s&ab_channel=LarryAlexTaunton|url-status=live}} John Lennox has stated, "Faith is not a leap in the dark; it's the exact opposite. It's a commitment based on evidence… It is irrational to reduce all faith to blind faith and then subject it to ridicule. That provides a very anti-intellectual and convenient way of avoiding intelligent discussion." He criticises Richard Dawkins as a famous proponent of asserting that faith equates to holding a belief without evidence, thus that it is possible to hold belief without evidence, for failing to provide evidence for this assertion.{{cite book|last=Lennox|first=John|title=God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?|url=https://archive.org/details/godsundertaker00john|url-access=registration|publisher=Lion UK|year=2009}}{{clarify|date=May 2018}}

Critics of reformed epistemology argue that it fails to provide a compelling justification for belief in God and that it is unable to account for the diversity of religious belief and experience. They also argue that it can lead to a kind of epistemic relativism, in which all religious beliefs are considered equally valid and justified, regardless of their content or coherence. Despite these criticisms, reformed epistemology has been influential in the contemporary philosophy of religion and continues to be an active area of debate and discussion.{{cite book|title=Reformed Epistemology and the Problem of Religious Diversity|first=Joseph|last=Kim|publisher=Pickwick Publications|date=June 8, 2011}}

Many religious beliefs are intended to be metaphorical or symbolic, but there are also religious beliefs that are taken quite literally by believers. For example, some Christians believe that the Earth was created in six literal days, and some Muslims believe that the Quran contains scientific facts that were not known to humans at the time of its revelation. Furthermore, even if a religious belief is intended to be metaphorical or symbolic, it can still be subject to empirical testing if it makes claims about the world. For example, the claim that the Earth is the center of the universe can be interpreted as a metaphorical representation of humanity's special place in the cosmos, but it also makes an empirical claim that can be tested by scientific observation.{{multiref2

|1={{cite book|last=Plantinga|first=A.|year=2011|title=Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism|publisher=Oxford University Press}}

|2={{cite book|title=The Epistemology of Religious Experience|first=Keith|last=Yāndell|series=New Series|volume=104|number=413|date=January 1995|pages=219–222|publisher=Oxford University Press}}

}}

{{see also|Morality#Evolution}}

From a scientific perspective, morality is not dependent on faith.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} While some individuals may claim that their morality is rooted in their faith or religious beliefs, there is evidence to suggest that morality is also influenced by other factors, such as social and cultural norms, empathy, and reason. Studies have shown that individuals from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds tend to share many moral values, suggesting that morality is not solely dependent on faith. Additionally, research in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology has shed light on the biological and cognitive mechanisms underlying moral decision-making, providing further evidence that morality is not exclusively dependent on faith.{{multiref2

|1={{cite book|last=Harris|first=S.|year=2010|title=The moral landscape: How science can determine human values|publisher=Simon and Schuster}}

|2={{cite book|last=Sinnott-Armstrong|first=W.|year=2004|title=Morality without God?|publisher=Oxford University Press}}

|3={{cite book|title=The Science of the Mind|first=Owen J.|last=Flanagan|publisher=MIT Press|year=1984}}

}}

{{see also|Anti-abortion violence|September 11 attacks|7 July 2005 London bombings}}

Bertrand Russell wrote:

{{blockquote|Christians hold that their faith does good, but other faiths do harm. At any rate, they hold this about the communist faith. What I wish to maintain is that all faiths do harm. We may define "faith" as a firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of "faith". We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence. The substitution of emotion for evidence is apt to lead to strife, since different groups substitute different emotions. Christians have faith in the Resurrection; communists have faith in Marx's Theory of Value. Neither faith can be defended rationally, and each therefore is defended by propaganda and, if necessary, by war.| Will Religious Faith Cure Our Troubles?}}

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins criticizes all faith by generalizing from specific faith in propositions that conflict directly with scientific evidence.{{cite book| first = Richard | last = Dawkins | title = The God Delusion | url = https://archive.org/details/goddelusion0000dawk_b2x1 | location = Boston | publisher = Houghton Mifflin | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-618-91824-9 }} He describes faith as belief without evidence; a process of active non-thinking. He states that it is a practice that only degrades our understanding of the natural world by allowing anyone to make a claim about nature that is based solely on their personal thoughts, and possibly distorted perceptions, that does not require testing against nature, cannot make reliable and consistent predictions, and is not subject to peer review.{{cite web|author=Dawkins, Richard |date=January–February 1997 |url=http://www.thehumanist.org/humanist/articles/dawkins.html |title=Is Science a Religion? |access-date=15 March 2008 |publisher=American Humanist Association |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030144700/http://www.thehumanist.org/humanist/articles/dawkins.html |archive-date=30 October 2012 }}

Philosophy professor Peter Boghossian argues that reason and evidence are the only way to determine which "claims about the world are likely true". Different religious traditions make different religious claims, and Boghossian asserts that faith alone cannot resolve conflicts between these without evidence. He gives an example of the belief held by Muslims that Muhammad (who died in the year 632) was the last prophet, and the contradictory belief held by Mormons that Joseph Smith (born in 1805) was a prophet. Boghossian asserts that faith has no "built-in corrective mechanism". For factual claims, he gives the example of the belief that the Earth is 4,000 years old. With only faith and no reason or evidence, he argues, there is no way to correct this claim if it is inaccurate. Boghossian advocates thinking of faith either as "belief without evidence" or "pretending to know things you don't know".{{cite book |title=A Manual for Creating Atheists |author=Peter Boghossian |author-link= Peter Boghossian|year=2013 |publisher=Pitchstone Publishing |isbn=978-1-939578-09-9 |page=31}}

Friedrich Nietzsche expressed his criticism of the Christian idea of faith in passage 51 of The Antichrist:{{cite book|first=Friedrich|last=Nietzsche|translator-first=H.L.|translator-last=Mencken|title=The Anti-Christ|location=Chicago|publisher=Sharp Press|year=1999|page=144}}

The fact that faith, under certain circumstances, may work for blessedness, but that this blessedness produced by an idée fixe by no means makes the idea itself true, and the fact that faith actually moves no mountains, but instead raises them up where there were none before: all this is made sufficiently clear by a walk through a lunatic asylum. Not, of course, to a priest: for his instincts prompt him to the lie that sickness is not sickness and lunatic asylums not lunatic asylums. Christianity finds sickness necessary, just as the Greek spirit had need of a superabundance of health—the actual ulterior purpose of the whole system of salvation of the church is to make people ill. And the church itself—doesn't it set up a Catholic lunatic asylum as the ultimate ideal?—The whole earth as a madhouse?—The sort of religious man that the church wants is a typical décadent; the moment at which a religious crisis dominates a people is always marked by epidemics of nervous disorder; the "inner world" of the religious man is so much like the "inner world" of the overstrung and exhausted that it is difficult to distinguish between them; the "highest" states of mind, held up before mankind by Christianity as of supreme worth, are actually epileptoid in form—the church has granted the name of holy only to lunatics or to gigantic frauds in majorem dei honorem....

Gustave Le Bon emphasizes the irrational nature of faith and suggests that it is often based on emotions rather than reason. He argues that faith can be used to manipulate and control people, particularly in the context of religious or political movements. In this sense, Le Bon views faith as a tool that can be wielded by those in power to shape the beliefs and behaviors of the masses.{{cite book|title=The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind|first=Gustave|last= Le Bon|year= 1896}}

Faith as in 'strong unshakable faith' is considered a virtue by many religious believers. This has been criticized since beliefs, including religious beliefs, should not be "exempt from critical evaluation" even if questioning or reconsidering these is difficult.{{cite journal |last1=Hatcher |first1=Donald |title=Should Religious Beliefs Be Exempt from the Duty to Think Critically? |journal=Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines |date=1 March 2014 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=17–31 |doi=10.5840/inquiryct20142913 |language=en}}{{additional citations needed|date=November 2024}}

File:Shintō prayer.jpg faith]]

• {{annotated link|Blue skies research}}
• {{annotated link|Delusion}}
• {{annotated link|Dogma}}
• {{annotated link|Faith and rationality}}
• {{annotated link|Incorrigibility}}
• {{annotated link|Life stance}}
• {{annotated link|Major religious groups}}
• {{annotated link|Numinous}}
• {{annotated link|Pascal's wager}}
• {{annotated link|Philosophy of religion}}
• {{annotated link|Piety}}
• {{annotated link|Rationalism}}
• {{annotated link|Religious conversion}}
• {{annotated link|Saint Faith}}
• {{annotated link|Simple church}}
• {{annotated link|Spectrum of theistic probability}}
• {{annotated link|Theological virtues}}
• {{annotated link|There are no atheists in foxholes}}
• {{annotated link|Truthiness}}
• {{annotated link|Worldview}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Gupta, Nijay K. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eabODwAAQBAJ Paul and the Language of Faith]. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2020. {{ISBN|978-1-4674-5837-5}}
• Sam Harris, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, W. W. Norton (2004), 336 pages, {{ISBN|0-393-03515-8}}
• Morgan, Teresa. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2jTCCAAAQBAJ Roman Faith and Christian Faith: Pistis and Fides in the Early Roman Empire and Early Churches]. Oxford University Press, 2015. {{ISBN|978-0-19-872414-8}}.
• Stephen Palmquist, "Faith as Kant's Key to the Justification of Transcendental Reflection", The Heythrop Journal 25:4 (October 1984), pp. 442–455. Reprinted as Chapter V in Stephen Palmquist, [http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/ksp1 Kant's System of Perspectives] (Lanham: University Press of America, 1993).
• D. Mark Parks, "Faith/Faithfulness" Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Eds. Chad Brand, Charles Draper, Archie England. Nashville: Holman Publishers, 2003.
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130522124737/http://harmonist.us/2009/05/on-faith-and-reason/ On Faith and Reason]}} by Swami Tripurari
• Baba, Meher: [http://www.discourses.org/ Discourses], San Francisco: Sufism Reoriented, 1967.
• [https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=-dfnAgAAQBAJ&pg=GBS.PA2&hl=en Richard Dawkins' God Delusion (online reading)]

• Martin Buber, I and Thou
• Paul Tillich, The Dynamics of Faith

• John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1536
• R.C. Sproul, Faith Alone, Baker Books, 1 February 1999, {{ISBN|9780801058493}}

• {{cite book|chapter=Chapter 1: On Faith in General|title=A Complete Catechism of the Catholic Religion|year=1912|publisher=Schwartz, Kirwin & Fauss|first= Joseph|last=Deharbe|translator=Rev. John Fander}}
• {{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Faith |volume=5 |first=Hugh |last=Pope}}
• {{cite book|chapter=Book V: Part I: On Faith|title=A manual of moral theology for English-speaking countries|year=1925|publisher=Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd.|first=Thomas|last=Slater S.J.}}

{{Wiktionary|πίστις}}

{{Wiktionary|faith}}

{{Wikiquote}}

{{Commons category|Faith}}

• {{cite encyclopedia|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/faith/ |title=Faith|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|author=John Bishop|author2=Daniel J. McKaughan|date=July 15, 2022}}
• Elizabeth Jackson. {{IEP|/faith-contemporary-perspectives/|Faith: Contemporary Perspectives}}
• James Swindal. {{IEP|/faith-re/|Faith: Historical Perspectives}}
• {{cite encyclopedia|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/religion-epistemology/ |title=The Epistemology of Religion|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|author=Peter Forrest|date=June 22, 2021}}
• {{cite web|url=https://study.com/academy/course/introduction-to-world-religions-help-course.html#|title= Free and open courses with videos, help and review, about the 10 biggest religions in the world|language= en|website= study.com/academy}}
• [http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword.asp?scope=6198&kid=1247 Faith in Judaism] chabad.org
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100407192246/http://pewresearch.org/topics/religion/ Pew Research Center Reports on Religion]}}
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWOZi_OUQL8&t=1492s&ab_channel=JamesV We'd be better off without religion? Panellists: Christopher Hitchens, Nigel Spivey, Richard Dawkins, rabbi Juliet Neuberger, AC Grayling and Roger Scruton.]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF5bPI92-5o&t=172s&ab_channel=LarryAlexTaunton The God Delusion Debate (Dawkins – Lennox)] (Dawkins believes the law of nature and denies Jesus resurrection and miracles; Lennox believes Jesus resurrection and miracles with justification by God's capability of breaking the commonly recognized law of nature.)
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bow4nnh1Wv0&ab_channel=TheArchbishopofCanterbury Dialogue with Professor Richard Dawkins, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Professor Anthony Kenny] (four topics: the nature of individual human beings, the origin of the human species, thirdly the origin of life on Earth, and finally the origin of the universe)

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