“Why is Faith good? Why is believing something WITHOUT evidence good?” Bill Maher in “Religulous”
There is a passage in the King James Bible, in the Book of II Corinthians Chapter 5. Verse 7 that reads, “…for we walk by faith, and not by sight….” One religious website interprets this statement as those walking by sight as being “in the dark”, because they do not follow God’s word, but rather reason and skepticism. Those who walk by faith however, are more assured because they are following God’s guidance and will always be blessed for doing so.
Now, a dictionary definition of the word faith is “Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.” And faith as described in the Bible is “is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. Throughout history, there has been no factual evidence of ANY God’s existence (with the exception of Ancient Egyptians under the rule of Akenhaton that worshipped the Sun as a God), and with advancements in Science, Techonology and Education, the concept of having faith as just described should be rendered null and void in this day and age. Yet many – ESPECIALLY in the Black community – continue to rely on it as a primary source of living their lives. And due to the lack of evidence of God’s existence, people are left to trust and even coerced by the words of others – which has had devastating consequences throughout history.
How long will the Black community continue to have faith that “God” will solve our problems? Black men are still dying in record numbers by murder and preventable diseases. They are amongst the highest population in U.S. correctional facilities. Many of us in general are still poorly educated, are living at poverty level, and are unable to sustain economic independence. At what point will people wake up and SEE that we have to DO something about it? And while some of these issues are attributed to the lingering effects of racism, and injustices faced in this country, we now have access to resources that weren’t available before, due to the efforts and hard work of many people (of ALL races and backgrounds). At what point has this been lost on us so much that we won’t take advantage of these opportunities because we’re not looking at what’s right on front of us? How long will we continue to let our “sight” be diminished by blind faith?
The ability to think critically and question is something that is dangerously undervalued in our communities. And to continue to encourage our children to “walk by faith and not by sight” will eventually devastate us as a people. It is time that we reconsider these archaic ideas (much of which was forced upon us and passed down through generations) and look at them for what they are – myths, fables and stories that have the ability to provide learning lessons. One still needs to have a critical eye and mind – questioning and analyzing everything before a decision is made. This is the “sight” that we as nonbelievers rely on to live our lives. Of course there will always be times where future events will be unknown and uncertainty will be inevitable. But everyone deserves the ability to be taught to view the world with “EYES WIDE OPEN”.