faith

The state of mind by which religious people are able inwardly to accept and act on the teachings of a religion. Faith is called for especially when there are few outward proofs that a religion is true. In the most famous defi nition of faith, that of the Epistle to the Hebrews in the Christian NEW TESTAMENT, it is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." IS FAITH FOUND IN ALL RELIGIONS? In the 1950s a professor at Harvard, Wilfred Cantwell Smith (1916–2000), made a suggestion that extended this usage of the word "faith." He said that instead of talking about religions scholars should talk about faith and cumulative traditions. Both common usage and Smith's suggestion imply that faith is found in many, if not all, religions. Actually, scholars disagree about whether most religions involve faith. Some take a narrow view and make faith characteristic of JUDAISM, ISLAM, and especially CHRISTIANITY. They stress ways in which what appears to be faith in other religions differs from the faith that characterizes Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Others acknowledge these differences but argue that the religious elements of other beliefs still count as faith. They think that the others have simply defi ned faith too narrowly. The paragraphs that follow use illustrations from various religions, not just Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Readers should realize that these illustrations offer rough approximations that not everyone would accept. VARIETIES OF FAITH Faith has different shades of meaning in religion. In some contexts it means chiefl y fi delity, the ongoing loyalty of worshippers to GOD and of God to humanity even when all seems darkest. It is thus really a kind of inner stability of character and predictability of action. Muslims may express this attitude in part when they profess their faith in the words of the shahadah: "I profess that there is no God but God (ALLAH), and that MUHAMMAD is his Messenger." This is certainly the attitude displayed in the BIBLE by JOB. In ROMAN CATHOLICISM faith fi rst of all means acknowledging the truths of the religion, which are contained in the established DOGMAS AND DOCTRINES. The most basic expressions of these truths are the CREEDS. Such teachings may be arrived at in part by reason rather than simple acceptance. Protestants, too, especially Protestant laypeople, sometimes think of faith as believing in propositions, for example, that the Bible contains no errors.