(October 29, 2008 at 1:07 pm)EvidenceVsFaith Wrote:(October 29, 2008 at 12:58 pm)leo-rcc Wrote: Well I think the human brain is very capable of compartmentalizing. Some true believers can be sublimely intelligent in all sorts of subjects, but incapable of critical thinking when it comes to matters of their faith.Yes, I think faith is bigger than religion. And I agree its often compartmentalized. I think religion is a huge part of faith. I don't think you can have religion without faith (unless you're faking it) but I think you can have faith without a religion. You can have faith in superstitions/pseudoscience etc. Astrology for example, or in my previous case, 'The Law of Attraction' utter bullshit.
Also, from what I've heard atleast, it seems as though Stalin, for example, had a kind of a dogmatic, anti-faith sort of faith.
I am afraid that we are mixing up different notions.
When RD speaks about Faith I understand that he just presents it as another expression of the belief in supranatural phenomena and particulary in God.
Now, superstitions,Destiny,astrology,prophecizing of future,and so on are all various faces of the same coin based on Faith.
So in my opinion as an atheist you can say that you believe that this or other rational thinking (scientific) theory is right or wrong but you can not say that you have faith without religion because they are one and the same thing.
What belongs to Stalin he thought of himself as a Genius of humanity ,and was in fact hailed as such in the Soviet Union and by commies abroad ,he was in fact a smart guy who outbrained his colleagues but his faith or anti-faith believes are by long thrown to the dustbin of history.