(September 29, 2009 at 2:19 pm)solarwave Wrote: Eg: When you sit on a chair you dont test whether it is strong enough to hold you first, you have faith that it will hold you because of past experiences and reason, not 'belief in spite of evidence'.
Solarwave,
In this example you are talking about knowledge based on empirical evidence. I have sat in chairs and almost always they hold my weight ergo I know that chairs will hold my weight. This is not a faith example. "Past experiences" = tests and the results point to the fact that chairs hold people.
Also, your Dawkins quote says nothing about reason it is talking about evidence. Faith is belief without evidence.
Rhizo
