excreationist

I'll just roughly define faith as being "trusting in someone's words or being loyal".
Faithful dogs are just loyal - they don't trust your words.
Now about whether something is evil or not... well I am a utilitarian (well in reality I'm more self-centered) and if something decreases a population's long-term happiness then it is bad - extremely bad things are evil.
Trusting in someone's words allows the first person to control others - for good or evil purposes. It also means less freedom in thought and action and I guess that is somehow bad in itself.

Skepticwithachainsaw

Geek Mode on
She's was that Slayer in Buffy' who turned evil.
So yes Faith is indeed evil and damn hot as well..
geek mode off

Umm how exactly are we defining "Evil", by utilitarianism or what? Simply saying Evil = Pain runs into problems, I mean some exercise is painful but it brings benefits, you could say that overall it brings an increase in pleasure but we're still on dodgy grounds here. I for one would view evil more as a denial of freedom.

I suppose Faith is potentially dangerous, but it more of what they have faith in how far people go with their faith.
I mean someone in say the French Resistance during 1941, may have had Faith in that their movement will eventually liberate France (with help of course), and this inspired them to fight. Would you argue that that was evil?
You could also argue that Scientific Knowledge has a large potential to cause pain, or money for that matter, should that be ditched?

I would agree though that Faith is potentially very dangerous and I generally avoid it.

emphryio

Oh geez. No wonder I left for awhile. I'll just assume someone will eventually read this with a bit more comprehension.

For posterity.

From the Faith is Immoral thread someone also said that Mother Theresa was a better person than Stephen Hawking despite being less intelligent.

Knowing little about MT I countered that if she were more intelligent she probably could have accomplished far more good.

On that note I offer <a href="http://www.room23.de/room23_view_detail.php?ID=1213" target="_blank">this</a>

excreationist

Sorry but I can't be bothered reading through the "faith is immoral" thread. Could you quote what you want us to read or something?

emphryio

I bet not a single person could be bothered to read it, which is maddeningly un-impressive. I brought it back up because I saw yet another thread wandering through the quagmire of faith and its many definitions. But maybe people don't have the free time so much to read long threads.

Anyway, here's a summary of my ideas:

Ideally, stupidity leads to pain. And all pain can be considered evil. On the other hand, intelligence leads to pleasure.

In practice, good or bad luck plays a large role. There are many happy idiots. But so what? I don't wish my happiness to be determined by luck. So ideally the above is true.

Now I define faith as belief in something that there isn't enough logical evidence to warrant a belief in. Some people give it a much broader definition. Some people feel belief in your senses is an act of faith. I would suggest that this means that we are acting on faith every second of our lives. If we are acting on faith every second of our lives than to say, "You've got to have faith," is the equivalent of saying, "You've got to have consciousness." This would be a very silly and meaningless thing to say.

Nevertheless, if people wish to broaden the definition of faith to the point where it has numerous meanings, thereby making philosophic communications concerning the word faith close to impossible, I can't stop them. I can only say that when I refer to it, I am using the definition I described above.

I have also seen faith described in dictionaries as: a strong belief. I think this definition is incorrect in that it makes the word faith uselessly redundant. I feel faith is also commonly misused where the word hope would be far more appropriate.

But hey, who am I to try to change the definition of words? Feel free to give the word faith numerous different meanings, thereby making philosophic communication impossible.

Anyway, the faith I'm referring to obviously leads to stupidity. Or I could say, "Belief in something that there isn't enough logical evidence to warrant a belief in, leads to stupidity."

Not withstanding luck, which isn't how I hope to achieve happiness in life, stupidity leads to pain. And that which causes pain can be considered evil.

Therefore faith is evil.

So next time you meet a Christian remember to inform them…

FAITH IS EVIL! Therefore they are immoral for practicing faith. And the Christian religion is immoral.

(Of course, make sure said Christian isn't your boss or has a gun, or is anyone that you're afraid might attempt to hurt you in some way, or is someone that you hope to dishonestly befriend in order to gain something from, etc.)

beoba

Faith is believing what common sense tells you not to.

Ierrellus

The pity is that Faith and Gullibility ever were wed.

Ierrellus

ShottleBop

Why would you wish pain upon stupid people? Do you think stupid people have any choice regarding their intelligence level? Wouldn't you wish sufficient understanding upon them to permit them to avoid pain?

Isn't your causality backwards? Wouldn't it be more accurate to state that "Stupidity may lead to belief in something that there isn't enough logical evidence to warrant a belief in"?

The Admiral

Faith is brought about by lack of knowledge. When knowledge is increased, faith is diminished.

The Admiral

Thor Q. Mada

Fath is belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge of things without paralle.
Ambroise Bierce

Whether this is evil:

Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law.
Thomas Paine

In short I have no problem with people having "faith" but I do have a problem when they start forming organized groups and getting involved in the power control process as it always happens.