Faith
Faith, as I choose to understand it, is the belief that something is true, and importantly, this something can never be proven as true. This is why religion, of all things, steals most of the scope of this word. Some might ask, 'Do you have a faith?' by which they mean, 'Do you practice a religion?' In fact, faith, in my opinion, is a fundamental aspect of any religion and one's devotion to a given religion and God is a measure of their faith, a point I shall return to. Religion, of all things, is one that can never be proven and therefore necessitates faith. But we've all heard people say, 'Do you have faith in science?' Surely science is the opposite of religion, the other extreme, everything that we have proven and upon which we base our reality? But still, some question science. This I think is acceptable.
First off, much of what science proves religion refutes and much of religion asserts, science disproves. Ipso facto a religious person surely has little faith in science and a man of science is sure to question much of what religion accepts as true without proof. But, we should also be thankful that even scientists question science, the result is surely progress. For example, Aristotle described the earth with four elements: earth, fire, wind and water, and the earth was the centre of the universe. This was, in essence, taken to be true.
Of course our periodic table and understanding of the universe developed from there, eventually Aristotelian physics - man's accepted science - was under scrutiny and pressure, and along came Newton. Newton introduced concepts which no longer fitted Aristotelian physics but offered us a better way of understanding and arranging our reality and interacting with it. So the decision was made to accept the anomaly and adjust all that we know to a new system - Newtonian physics. So two questions remain: Is science the search for all the rules that fit neatly into our current system of physics? or Is science in search for that one 'amazing' anomaly, an idea so grand that we will be willing to alter our whole understanding of the universe to embrace it? If we answer the latter with the affirmative, it appears acceptable to question science (including that which has been 'proven'). In short, it is acceptable to play with the idea of faith in science. The point is, as with religion, even in science there is always doubt.
Doubt
In discussing religion I mentioned the idea of a measure of faith. If we take faith as a percentage, for the sake of the argument, 100% faith in religion, or science for that matter, implies what? In my opinion, it implies that there is 0% doubt. Thus, 90% faith implies 10% doubt - you get the picture, where there isn't faith, there is doubt. And sadly, I believe this to be true of all things, doubt is the evil that religious folk are fighting and doubt is possibly the fuel for scientific progress! Thus, the measure (or test) of one's faith is also a measure (or test) of one's doubt.
We also have faith in each other. In the broader sense, we have some have faith in humanity but on a more personal level, we have faith in those we love and care for, faith enough that they love and care for us too - little Johnny waits patiently in the rain for his mother to collect him after school because he has faith in her. Human relationships, I would argue, are dependent on faith. We've cleverly overcome the problem of building relationships where there is no faith - with law - we have legally binding contracts that the invested parties must remain faithful to. But, legality aside, the remainder of the relationships we choose to be in, to varying degrees, are based on faith. Faith, in this sense, implies love, respect and above all trust. And, of course, the opposite of faith is doubt, to have little faith in someone is to seriously doubt them. Likewise, our faith in each other is something that is also - sadly - being constantly tested. When little Johnny eventually realises that his mother is not coming to collect him from school he looses faith in her, and doubt's her promise that she will be there to collect him the following day. So again we come to the relationship of faith and doubt, a relationship, that surely, we all understand and negotiate differently.
For me, I'm a absolutist on this point. Influenced by Descartes in his pursuit of the truth, he threw everything - he once held in good faith to be true - into doubt. He was an absolutist in his pursuit of the truth because the thought experiment (the pursuit of 'absolute' truth) necessitated it. To arrive at an absolute truth he had to negate anything that had even an incling of doubt, the smallest measure of doubt was enough to completely doubt something. Should little Johnny wait for his mother to collect him the following day?
Hope
But if there is always doubt, how, or why, do we maintain relationships? Hope! What do we hope for? Little Johnny hopes his mother will collect him. But does hope imply doubt? If you have 0% doubt in something do you need hope? Do you hope the sun will rise tomorrow? Then again, I'm not sure if anyone can claim to be an absolutist with regards to faith, to have a pure faith in something, I believe that there is always some doubt. But our hope is fed by our doubt, we are hopeful only because we are doubtful, and finally, without doubt there is no need for hope. To loose our hope is to accept as true what we (feared and) doubted. To loose our hope is therefore to loose our faith. But, if that is true, is hope a positive emotion? Personally, this question is most troubling in relation to faith in others. Faith in religion, or even science, is by and large faith in what cannot be proven as true i.e. there is always some doubt. Religious truths may prove to be true in the afterdeath...or afterlife, but religion is a blind faith (and therefore quite beautiful). Scientific truths await the looming anomaly! But faith in others in something that effects us all, everyday and on a very personal and emotional level. Human relationships are at the core of our existence, we necessitate them for our personal growth and emotional well being.
Choice
I will admit, at this point, that my perspective must sound rather glum. I don't have faith in faith, I doubt the value of hope and how I can possibly have faith if, as an absolutist, I'm choosing to embrace doubt? That's the point - choice! Why do we enter relationships with others, why do we, in the face of doubt, remain hopeful? Choice. The irony of this conclusion, from a Christian perspective, is that God endowed us with choice. Religion is a choice, even scientific beliefs are a choice. The relationships we enter, we enter by choice.
We choose what and who we have faith in, be it religion, science and other people. Our faith is constantly tested in the face of doubt. And while we make these choices we're also choosing to be hopeful. My objective here is not to share my personal views but only to share - what I believe to be - the complicated relationship of these words. Most importantly I hope for everyone to understand the complexity of their faith and implications of their choices.
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