If evidence for god is in abundance, why is faith necessary?

[beepete]

Really interesting question. It would seem all belief systems require faith of some description, that in itself demonstrates that faith is simply throwing your lot in with a system of belief that best suits who you are, where you were born etc. Most theists (and I'm one at this stage in my life's journey) look at the complexity of the natural world and see a deities handy work. But that is not proof of a deity as many other people (agnostics, many scientists, atheists and so on) look at the same evidence and have a naturalistic argument that satisfies their inquiry, and I wouldn't necessarily call that faith though many theists mislabel it as such. When it comes to drawing conclusions about abiogenesis I guess we either rely on faith or simply state 'I don't know'. So, is there enough evidence to accept that there is God without having faith. The obvious (to my way of thinking) answer is no. If God suddenly appeared, none of us would need faith. So why is faith required? Because of lack of conclusive evidence.