Whether faith is belief without evidence, or trust calibrated to evidence — and why the definition matters.
A popular slogan says faith is believing what you know isn't true, or believing without any evidence. That is one definition, but it is not how the major theological traditions use the word. Classically, faith is trust extended on the basis of reasons — like trusting a doctor or a friend — that goes beyond, but is not contrary to, what is proven. On this view reason clears the ground (evidence for a historical Jesus, philosophical arguments, the limits of naturalism) and faith takes a step the evidence underdetermines. Skeptics reasonably reply that the step is too large. The truth-first habit is to be explicit: state what the evidence supports, where it runs out, and that the remaining commitment is faith — neither smuggling faith in as proven fact, nor pretending reasoned trust is the same as blind belief.
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