Faith and Religion

Faith involves an act of will in which a person chooses to believe something without having absolute proof. Many decisions in life are based upon faith. A young person putting money aside for retirement is an example of a decision based in part on faith. First they must believe they will still be alive to use the investment some four decades hence, second, they have to believe that the investment will survive and third, that they will be living in a world where they can enjoy the fruits of their savings. The late author, James Mitchner, in the introduction to his book Return to Paradise, tells of an Englishman in the late 1930s who, after studying and concluding that war was inevitable in Europe, looked at the globe to try to find some place where he could safely sit out the war. Speaking only English, he had a second requirement that English be spoken in that place. He quickly eliminated the United States and Canada concluding that they would be involved in the war. Australia and New Zealand were also eliminated as they were in the path of an increasingly militaristic Japanese Empire. He finally decided that his best bet was one of the many British held islands in the Pacific Ocean that was both remote and lacked resources that would attract the attention of the Japanese or German leaders. He finally settled on a remote island in the Solomon chain called Guadalcanal! Faith is believing in a result but not knowing for certain that the result will be achieved.

Religion and faith are closely aligned because religion involves belief in things for which hard evidence is lacking. The Bible contains numerous references on the need for faith. In his letter to the Hebrews, St. Paul describes faith by writing, Faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1 - The New American Bible - The New Catholic Translation). Again, in the Gospel of St. John we have Christ appearing before his disciples a second time following his resurrection and admonishing St. Thomas (who had not been present at Christ's first appearance and had doubted Christ's resurrection) with the words: You have become a believer because you saw me. Blest are they who have not seen and have believed. (John 20:29 - The New American Bible - The New Catholic Translation)

However, faith and religion are not the same thing. Faith is choosing to believe, while religion involves an organized set of beliefs, practices, customs and rules. Since the beliefs associated with a religion involve spiritual matters for which there is very little physical evidence, faith is required for religion. Religion emphasizes the need to have faith in order to accept the beliefs of the religion.

While faith involves a personal choice, religion is social in that it involves a group of people sharing a similar faith or set of beliefs. While most religions have or have had famous people who have lived their lives in solitude while developing a deep and inspiring spiritual faith by living a lonely life of solitude in the desert, on a mountain top or confined to a chorister, most people find it easier to develop and nurture their spiritual selves in the presence of others who share similar beliefs. While they may find the spiritual writings and teachings of the Desert Fathers of Christianity or other's who lived holy lives in solitude to be of great help, they find that this is best done in a more structured setting with others.