Cowboy Confessional

Here in San Francisco, Barack Obama was elevated to deity status during the last presidential election. Since then he was demoted to a suspect saint, and if many more Modern Sodom residents are assigned to unemployment lines, Obama will become Satan’s stunt double.

Liberal’s faith is slowly being shattered.

The problem with faith, regardless of the flavor, is that faith is “belief that is not based on proof” and belief is merely “opinion or conviction.” Thus faith tends to be little more than well articulated wishful thinking, such as the local’s faith that Barack was more than a mere Chicago politician or that Heaven is reserved for you and your tribe alone. Faith must always be held as a suspect until proven innocent, especially when zealots attempt inflicting their faith on others.

That means you, pesky Jehovah Witnesses.

This is not to say faith is irrational or without use. Certain religions that actually preach peace, love and kindness in their better eras have alleviated human suffering and created astounding systems of charity. For example, the Catholic Church – who in darker days castrated young boys and tortured Jews toward salvation – has in recent times taken care of the ill, infirm and elderly. Yet any faith and all religion must be consigned to theory status, for it is not based on proof. The Pope is as ignorant as the atheist for neither can prove nor disprove the existence of Gawd. Indeed the Pope is the less annoying opposing force since he will admit his opinions are faith, while the atheist erroneously assumes that obtaining the tiniest of scientific insight into the machinations of the universe disproves that someone a bit smarter created it.

Richard Dawkins is that kind of dunce.

Tensions flair when proof speaks against faith. Never ending sport is found when scientific evidence or careful analysis lays waste to scripture because those with faith tend to believe scripture to be infallible. When one half of their belief system is rationally challenged (like the absurd claim that the universe is a mere 6,000 years old), then the other half is threatened. Similar silliness is seen in the global warming clamor as various data chip away at Al Gore’s doctrine that the science is settled (which given that Einstein’s older science is now being called into question shows that we upright apes don’t know nearly as much as we believe we do). When belief that scientific consensus concerning man made global warming is challenged, then the associated belief that contemporary humans can give an entire planet a fever is challenged as well.

Al Gore is proving to be a lousy prophet.

Insecurity drives many faiths. Anxiety over death and worldly injustice define most religions and crafted both Hell and Heaven (frankly, neither place sounds particularly entertaining). Humans have an innate dislike of the unknown and a genetic inability to admit that they don’t know what they don’t know. Certainty, however misplaced, is comforting, especially when it is shaped by one’s own biases. Knowing your neighbor will burn for eternity because he wouldn’t charitably lend you his lawn mower provides a certain satisfaction and faith in justice, which combined, eliminates insecurity.

You don’t want to know the penalty for coveting your neighbors Lexus.

Because faith by definition is biased, humans – and even lower animals like politicians – place faith in strange places (rumor has it that Bill Clinton named his cigar collection Faith).  For example:

Religion: Religion is a null program because Gawd (if he/she/it exists) is beyond human comprehension and religion’s job is to comprehend Gawd. It is much less irrational to believe in Gawd than religion, because the former has not been disproven and the latter has more conceptual weakness than Keynesian economics (which is Barack Obama’s economic belief system, and we see how well that is working).

Government fiscal responsibility: More has been written on the ineptitude of government than any other subject, save religion, which means both systems are equally defective. In most human endeavors, people tend to be cautious with their own money and foolish with their neighbor’s. Government building projects typically cost twice original forecasts, and government lacks the legal power to discriminate between those who deserve charity and those who deserve a swift kick in their welfare financed pants.

Politicians: Those who seek office seek power. Anyone who seeks power cannot be trusted and are poor repositories of faith.

Justice: The stuff exists, but it is entirely man made. The universe is otherwise devoid of it. Humans erect systems of justice, often on nationwide scales, and more frequently in direct form, be it fanning a child’s rump for lying or punching a politician for the same crime. To assume that Gawd or Karma exists and will eventually separate the good from the evil are exercises in faith and laziness.

Human nature: Unlike justice, human nature does exist. The problem is it that human nature is as varied and unpredictable as the universe at large. Mother Teresa wallowed in compassion for the downtrodden while Jeffery Dahmer ate them. Putting faith in human nature, of any one variety, attempts to apply a single set of behaviors to seven billion people. The odds are against you.

Yet there is one store in which faith can be placed, and that is within you. Like most homo sapiens, you likely have attempted to define a set of ethics that are generally peaceful, charitable and humane. If so, then placing faith in yourself is wise. If voted for Barack Obama based on faith that a community organizer could deftly handle global woes and complex economic structures, then don’t bother putting faith in yourself … the necessary substance is lacking.

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This entry was posted by Guy Smith on Sunday, September 25th, 2011 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.