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As a child, I had a number of strong religious beliefs but little faith in God. There is a distinction between belief in a set of propositions and a faith which enables us to put our trust in them. I believed implicitly int he existence of God; I also believed in the Ral Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the efficacy of the sacraments, the prospect of eternal damnation and the objective reality of Purgatory. I cannot sya, however, that my belief int hese religious opinions about the nature of ultimate reality gave me much confidence that life here on earth was good or beneficient.
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This is from the intro of Karen Armstrong's
A History of God: The 4,000-Year Old Quest of Judaisum, Christianity, and Islam. An amazing book by the way.
Does anyone agree? I've always thought there was a distinct difference between believing and having faith. I also thought there was a difference between believing and just having an idea about something. Cue Chris Rock as Rufus in Kevin Smith's "Dogma":
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I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier.
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He goes on to talk about how people will die for beliefs, fight wars for them. I think that to wholeheartedly subscribe to a belief is foolhardy. I think you should always be open to the possibility that you could be wrong. Anyone else?