The Two Meanings of Faith

“Faith” is one of those words we’re all familiar with, and we all think we roughly know what it means, even if we couldn’t come up with a dictionary definition. Many people think it’s a good thing, something worth having. Even those who don’t have it, whatever it is, sometimes wish they did, and yearn to believe.

In short, “faith” is not one of those words anyone feels the need to look up in the dictionary. So I was surprised and enlightened, while reading Robert L. Park’s Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science, to learn that there are two very different meanings of the word “faith”:

1. Complete trust or confidence;
2. Strong belief in a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.

In many dictionaries, the word is broken down into finer variations, but this striking contrast is a common feature. My Collins dictionary lists the first meaning as

Strong or unshakable belief in something, esp. without proof or evidence and  is complete trust or confidence in a person, remedy, etc.

The second  as a conviction of the truth of certain doctrines of religion, esp. when this is not based on reason

This is remarkable: we have two important meanings of “faith” that are not only different, they are exact opposites.

To read the full debate, go to atomies.org  Posted on 30 December 2011 by atomies