The Resistance

I'm trying to write an essay on faith versus reason and at a critical point I want to say:

"Faith is a ????? that contorts one's thought processes to reach a desired conclusion."

Opaite doesn't sound right and neither does the phrase "mental bypass," although they seem to be in the ballpark. I'm looking for that perfect word that's on the tip of my mental tongue.

Any help would be appreciated.

Amos

Faith is a rubber crutch?
Faith is a bamboo stilt?

The Resistance

Thanks, but not exactly what I'm looking for.

Monkeybot

Wow, Amos made sense!

This is a tough one. Maybe you could try "mental process," except that you already have the word "processes" later on in the sentence and that would be weird. Perhaps "way of thinking," "mental framework," "intellectual shortcut," "willful ignorance," "system of rationalization," or something like that would work? Sorry for the, ahem, not-altogether-unbiased stuff, but your sentence seemed to be anti-faith anyway so why not.

Hope this helps.

whouprog

"Mental corset?" Or, maybe "wheeze" (if you want to sound like The Economist).

Wizardry

How about "Faith is a virus that contorts one's thought processes to reach a desired conclusion"?

Seems about right to me, although you might not be trying to come across that negative.

Peace out.

sullster

Amos was on the right track, but for his own obscuritanistic reasons.

I prefer the tried and true old saying: "Religion/Faith is the Weakman's crutch".

My own take on a definition of faith is that it is a belief that something will or will not happen to you in the future. You have faith when you get on an airplane that it will not crash. Faith is by nature, irrational, yet can have the trappings of rationality. In the case of the airplane, you can have faith in the plane
's designers and builders and the pilots too.

In the case of religious faith, it is a total crap shoot made by weak people. What makes them weak, is that they refuse to see the world for what it is-a beautiful and terrible place which works according to laws and in which you are a worm, at best. No transcendent beings, no other-worldly illusion, no dreams of punishment and gods, just hard and strong reality.

The weak can't take all that, and they reach for their crutch, which is faith.

ZouPrime

Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence. The worst thing is that the rest of us are supposed to respect it: to treat it with kid gloves.

Richard Dawkins, The Nullifidian

mongrel

From my point of view, faith looks like a dilusion of grandeur. The faithfull all seem to think they are the chosen ones who will make it to heaven, which would imply their superiority over us heathen scum and all those other "false" believers. None of them want to face up to how insignificant we are, and religion makes them feel more important. "I didn't come from no monkey" would seem to be a statement fitting in with delusions of grandeur, and plenty of them use that. "I have friends in high places" is another.

So, how about "Faith is a delusion of grandeur that contorts one's thought processes to reach a desired conclusion."

[ February 02, 2002: Message edited by: mongreldog ]</p>

The Resistance

Thanks. Maybe "mental bypass," although I am looking for ONE perfect word that fits. there possibly isn't one. Wizardy's "virus" was a good one. I've use the computer's theasaurus with no better luck.

I don't mind the bias, but I am trying to write in an unemotional tone, yet invoke an emotional and thoughful reaction.

Although almost everyone's ideas would fit, none of them makes me go "Bingo, that's absolutely perfect." Maybe I'm being unreasonable with my expectations.

Thanks everyone. I'll keep working on it.