Faith and Reason

If Reason is the capacity to see, to understand and to accept the true visible material, that is physically observable which many times can be expressed or quantified mathematically, then Faith is the capacity to see, to understand and to accept truths that are not substantiated, but not any less evident, beyond being physically observable, and is not mathematically expressible or quantifiable.

Faith and reason are not two opposite and irreconcilable concepts, like the yes and the no, the white and the black, the lie and the truth.  English philosopher, Anthony Kenny, defines reason as the means between skepticism and credulity, i.e., the optimal balance between inappropriate belief and inappropriate doubt.

Like faith, for it to be humanly it needs to escape from irrationality and be reasonable; reason needs to escape from pretension of being "one size fits all", i.e., to be the only way to knowledge.  To paraphrase Pascal, faith has reasons that reasons does not know. If faith, without reason, is blind, reason, without faith, is not any less blind; both are important for knowledge.

Historically over time, reason was formed and established in science, which is the process of determining the behaviour of substance or of the universe using observation, experimentation, and reason. Historically faith was formed and established in religion, which is an organized system of beliefs, ideas or answers about cause, nature and the finality of the universe which are not, nor can they ever be the object of science.

Atheism is also a belief and les scientific
Religion contains faith that the eternal God created the matter (the universe) -- a supernatural belief, not based on direct observation, which preceded the Big Bang. Atheism contains the faith that the matter (the universe) is eternal and uncreated; a supernatural belief that, of the same form, cannot be based on direct observation because the observer, man, did not exist at that time.

Science cannot prove wrong the belief that God preceded the Big Bang and is the origin of the Universe. On the contrary the atheistic belief that the universe always existed and created itself, violate Einstein's law of the conservation of Mass/Energy (E=MC2), the first law of thermodynamic, according to which mass can be converted into energy and vice-versa, but not mass nor energy can create themselves. The atheistic belief that the universe is eternal and will always exists violates the second law of thermodynamics, called the law of degradation, according to which transformation of mass into energy is not possible without deterioration or irreversible wasting away of the first; from which we can conclude, scientifically, that the universe will end when it has spent all its energy.

Putting aside the fact that one day we will not need faith because we will see God face to face; still in this world, the scientific knowledge can increase and be one step from proving in an irrefutable way the existence of God. Whereas the atheistic faith, in a universe not created and eternal, will always remain a belief because we will never obtain the scientific knowledge of the origin of an uncreated eternal universe, since no one existed or could have been there to observe the beginning of a universe without beginning.

Faith and reason in day-to-day
Not only in religion lives the faith, not only in science lives the reason. Faith and reason belong together, and we need both in our day-to-day life. Practically all actions contain a bit of reason and a bit of faith. In our life, reason analyses, and faith decides; without reason we would decide prematurely and make more mistakes than we already do; without faith we would never arrive at a decision, take chance on a solution to our problems, because we would always think that something could have escaped our analysis and thus fall into immobility.

When I accept a cheque for a service rendered, I believe that it is fair to say that it would be indelicate, and I could lose a friend if I refused it. When I get into a plane, I believe that the police have done a good job in preventing someone from putting a bomb in the baggage and I believe that the pilots are well trained and well intentioned.

When I feel like eating, in a restaurant, I trust that the food is in good condition, and I would not insist that it is analyzed in a laboratory before I eat it; it is the lack of faith and the fear of poisoning that make the cooks in Ethiopia to always taste the food in front of guests before serving.

When I join a woman in marriage, I believe that it is going to work out, that it will be for rest of our life. When I ask for a bank loan that is more than the bank determined after analyzing my financial situation, if eventually they concede in giving me the loan it is because they have faith that one day, they will get it back with interest.

The credit card is, at the end of the day, a card of faith, and operates based on that; one speaks of faith in the markets as one speaks of faith in God. In summary, faith is not only the spare change between God and us but, it is also, the spare change between others and ourselves.

As Man is not an object of science, in the day-to-day life there are no certainties only probabilities. Like reason, faith is essential in human relations for understanding among people. It is based on trust, which people have with one another, that the promises and commitments are made and accepted.

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC