Many atheists and agnostics like to declare that only religious people have faith. However, if by “faith” one means a belief that ventures beyond the evidence or what can be strictly proven, then every (sane) person has significant faith. In fact, all of us exercise lots of faith in many ways every day. It is not only the “religious” folk who do so.
I explain why this is so in my article “You Gotta Believe” in the latest issue of Salvo. I show how even some of our most basic and common sense beliefs are as unprovable as they are irresistible and that even the most rigorous scientist makes a number of assumptions that are essentially faith ventures. Faith, it turns out, is unavoidable, despite what popular clichés might suggest to the contrary.
By the way, Salvo is a really cool magazine about society, sex and science. So after you read my piece, be sure to subscribe. And encourage all your friends (and enemies) to do so as well.
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