Faith vs Belief

[Whateverist]

I didn't expect to make this thread for a few more weeks yet.  But then on my first googling I came upon this and thought it as good a place to start as any.  My intention is to add more sources every week or two in the service of my over-arching goal which is to drive a wedge between the two words.

Briefly, I want to establish that faith is a receptive stance while belief is a declarative stance.  Faith insists there is meaning whether or not one is capable of articulating it.  Whenever you specify what it is that has meaning, you are expressing a belief.  Many (but not all) Christians carry on as if life, the cosmos and identity are simple things - because they have the holy reference book of meaning called the bible.  True believers are locked in a stance of espousing their truth.  The faithful reserve the right to self correct as needed in their search for the truth.  One stance grabs truth and pins it in a collection box, the other studies and marvels at it wherever it flies.  

Okay, Exhibit One: from a catholic source, Dr. Gregory Popcak who distinguishes faith from belief according to what he calls the psychology of religion.  (I know very little of him or his website but offer what he says on its own merits.)

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthec...ifference/

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Faith– Most of us think of “faith” in supernatural terms, as in “faith in God.”  This is actually more of what psychologists of religion would call “belief” (see below). Faith, from a more naturalistic, psychological perspective, is merely the innate drive to search for meaning, purpose and significance.

From infancy, every human person has an innate sense that “there is something more than just me” and a drive to discover what that might be.  The baby calls out for the mother even when the mother is gone from view.  In the same way, all people, whether they are believers or not, seek the deeper meaning, purpose, and significance that exists in life, relationships and the things that happen to us.  We recognize this basic striving as “faith” and it is a universal part of being human.  Even atheists have this kind of faith.  I think this is an especially useful understanding of the term because of its universality.  We often hear that “faith is a gift”  but when we see so many people who do not believe in God, we wonder if God simply did not gift those people with faith.  The answer is that everyone has the gift of faith–that innate drive to seek meaning, purpose and significance–but some people have exercised this innate gift more than others, allowing their faith to be better defined than others.

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Note I suspect he and I might have different ideas about the best way to exercise one's faith.  He is probably more motivated than I to be sure faith sticks the landing into the appropriate beliefs.  Wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that what he would count as the appropriate beliefs turn out to be found in the catechism.  Regardless I like the way he makes the distinction between belief and faith.