Religion vs Faith.

[Danustouch]

Are Religion, and Faith, two seperate things? Is Faith a natural by-product of Religion? Can a person have Faith WITHOUT having a religion? If the two are separate, what is the difference?

And finally, do you consider your path, a Religion, or a Faith?????

Please Give us your Thoughts!

[Avena]

Interesting topic...Here my thoughts, I believe...

...1. that you can have a religion, but it isn't your faith. (e.g You're officially Catholic - ur religion - but unofficially Pagan - ur faith -, for example because you're living in a conservative neighborhood)


...2. that you can have a religion which is your faith.
(e.g you are Pagan and all you believe in is Pagan)


...3. that you can have faith without having a religion.
(e.g if you believe that there must be "something", but you do not belong to a religious group of any kind, do not want to imagine what "that" could be, do not want to worship "it", nor to believe that "it" is responsible for what human living conditions on earth are like.


So I think religion and faith can be seen as two completely different topics.

[airmist]

Ihave the feeling that all religions started out as a "faith" in the sense of a meaningful relationship with one's spiritual source. As that becomes ritualized, shared and jointly practiced, it becomes a religion.

Eventually, as it is threatened by different views (heresies) and so forth, it becomes institutionalized and it becomes defensive as all institutions do. I see this result not as an inherent criticism of religions, but as a danger to them (and, obviously, everyone else.)

I have not joined any groups for a number of reasons, but the desire not to turn my faith into religion is one of them, even though I miss the beneficial aspects of religion, the sharing of beliefs with others of like faith.

[pinguino]

Faith and Religion are both seperate enities.
I see faith, in general, as the confadence in the truth of one's beliefs. I would then have to say that I equate faith with beliefs. One cannot have one without the other.

Religion is the reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe. One can have faith in an idea, but not consider it reverent. One can have faith in religion, but one does not need religion to have faith.

[Faolan]

definately an interestin topic, here's my views on it.

Faith, is not because of a religon, but growing up christian I learned faith meaning believing in something you can't see. That doesn't have to fit just religons. Have all of you seen $1,000,000? Probably not, but you have faith that it exists right? As for religon, that can be confusing because it fits many things. I see a religon as something you believe in, something you live for in a way, a way to connect your spirituality to something else. Or it could just mean a group of people believing in a general... belief? heh, I couldn't find the right word for that. But those are just my views, take it as you like :D

[pinguino]

Originally posted by Faolan
Faith, is not because of a religon, but growing up christian I learned faith meaning believing in something you can't see. That

Don't you have faith in certain people. Faith that they will be there for you or that you can trust them? They are a physical presence. The faith in them is based on past actions or statments. So I would have to say that yes, faith can be something that you see, touch and hear.

[Myst]

To me religion is a belief system, faith is belief in something.

So as Pinguino said, I can have faith in a religion, but I don't need religion to have faith (I can have faith in other things and people).

[Faolan]

of course I have aith in people, but the things that I have faith in them are abstract, so I can't see them. I can't see trust, love, friendship, happiness, that sort of thing. I'm not trying to seem offensive so I REALLY hope I'm not, this is just how I see things, good argument tho :)

[Myst]

I have faith that my fiance won't cheat on me unless he wants his @$$ kicked.

I can see him cheating, I can see me kicking his @$$

:)

[Danustouch]

AMEN MYSTS!!!!!!!! LMAO!!!!!!

[Myst]

oh WAIT I'm being a bully again :rolleyes:

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by Danustouch
Are Religion, and Faith, two seperate things? Is Faith a natural by-product of Religion? Can a person have Faith WITHOUT having a religion? If the two are separate, what is the difference?

IMHO, the two very rarely coincide. They are two very seperate concepts, almost (but not entirely) unrelated to one another.



And finally, do you consider your path, a Religion, or a Faith?????

Please Give us your Thoughts!

Religion.

- Ill

[pinguino]

Originally posted by Faolan
of course I have aith in people, but the things that I have faith in them are abstract, so I can't see them. I can't see trust, love, friendship, happiness, that sort of thing. I'm not trying to seem offensive so I REALLY hope I'm not, this is just how I see things, good argument tho :)

Not offended at all. :)
The question that I have is why do you have faith in them in the first place?
We have faith in people because we have learned through past interactions that they will come through or be there for us. Through past expericence of behavior. Generally this is proved time and time agian before we truly trust in them. So the argument that I have is that faith is NOT abstract. It is based on judements on a person's behavior, that they acted faithfully on a particular occasion(s)......(hehe Gil Ryle comming out again :) )

[Faolan]

that makes sense as well I suppose, I guess here's my entire thoughts. A religon has Doctorines, a code to follow, blah blah that sort of thing. While a faith is something that's within your heart and mind and soul, something that you believe, and something that you form to fit your needs and wants. That's essentially the bulk of my thoughts, if that clears anything up?

[pinguino]

umm..... I think what you are saying is that religion is a set way that you celebrate faith.

I just think that it's fun to break things down into their basic elements.... to try to see and understand why we belive what we belive.

[lucidfire]

The thing I disagree with here is breaking something down into a faith, simply because you can't control it. Just sounds like legal trickery to me. A faith is a religion that doesn't have 1,000,000,000 followers, a bible, and political power? I wonder who defined that one....

Just my crazy world though