putting the brakes on faith

[DeistPaladin]

I find that "confidence" does a better job than "faith" in describing what I have in a given idea.

people should stop using faith and use confidence. it would make a bit more sense then saying i have faith there is xxx.

Just throwing this out for thought:

Since we can't know everything, when we make a decision, we must go with what knowledge we have and then make a decision based on what we believe and hope that when the dust settles, that our "faith" will be validated. I'm not speaking of religious faith here but more broadly of acting without complete knowledge.

Without this kind of "faith", we could never make a decision. We could endlessly deliberate anything.

Obviously, I'd differentiate this kind of faith from the religious kind, which doesn't involve acquiring ANY knowledge and makes assumptions on the most extraordinary of claims on the basis of someone else's say-so. I'm simply trying to wrap my head around the question of whether there is any such thing as a good kind of faith.

It reminds me of one scene from Star Trek TNG where Data and Geordi are talking about "going with your gut". Data concludes that where knowledge is incomplete, humans fill in the missing pieces with their personality. I looked for a You Tube clip but couldn't find one.

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Whoever came up with the idea that believing without evidence is a good thing, is the one everyone should be worshipping. It's the most brilliant con ever.