One main idea of this chapter is the secular and catholic definitions of faith. The secular definition of faith involves putting complete trust in someone which seems extremely hard to do because there is always a risk involved in trusting someone. The usual questions I ask myself when I am about to trust someone is "Is this person trustworthy, can I believe this person will meet my expectations with what I am about to tell or ask them?" The book calls secular faith a calculated risk. Of course, calculating the risk, at least most times, takes milliseconds, a skill developed from experience. The theological definition of Faith differs considerably from the secular definition of faith. The book says "Catholics define faith as an intellectual assent to a loving God and His revelation". Even though Faith is a risk (faith in God or the secular definition), there is less of an instinctual since of trust in God compared to trusting other humans. To truly trust God, and not just have blind faith, people need to actually consider the pros and cons to putting faith in something they can never understand (at least on earth). I cannot fully comprehend the actions of others, but I have a better chance of seeing a human's motives than God's because I am human. Faith in God required much more than milliseconds to decide. Trusting a being you do not personally know requires reasons, an example of this from the section is the episode of The Andy Griffith Show, Mr. McBeevee. Andy believes in Opie who clams Mr. McBeevee, a man with twelve arms and blows smoke out of his ears, exists. Andy's reason for believing in a seemingly imposable person is because he "believe[s] in Opie". The second major part of this section is what faith is by giving examples of what faith is not. The way the book presents it, faith appears to be both radicalism (beliefs without reason to support it) and nihilism (reason without believing anything is true). Faith, as a union of radicalism and nihilism would be beliefs supported by reason.

One major part of this section is faith as a risk. In the movies and videos we watched, the risk of putting faith in something was continually shown. Jim Goodnight from SAS gives his employees many luxuries, paid for out of his pocket, putting faith in them to get their work done and make a good product. He has been successful in this and receives the rewards without attempting to get more money by making SAS a public company. Another person we watched a video about is Danny Meyer. Danny gives back to the community which makes his restaurants more successful with a profitable surrounding community. Danny Meyer put his money into the community having faith that the benefit of the whole will also benefit him. Aaron Feuerstiein is another example of faith. Feuerstiein was the owner of the Malden Mills textile industry in Massachusetts. There was a fire and Malden Mills burned down. During the reconstruction, Feuerstiein paid his employees because "it was the right thing to do". He had faith in doing what was right for the whole would help the community get though the reconstruction. Because he decided to keep paying his employees, Malden Mills had to declare bankruptcy.

Another important part of this section is faith as the golden way. In a world full of so many problems, it is hard to see a positive outcome to life. Global warming, war, disease, and many other problems actually strengthen the need for belief. Nihilism denies the need for belief, viewing the universe as unintelligible. Saying the universe is unintelligible contradicts itself because that statement is and example of an attempt to understand the universe. Nihilism in itself contradicts itself, even though it attempts to use reason that doesn't exist according to its views. Radicalism is the opposite of Nihilism. Radicalism believes something without backing it up with any reason. This is just as dangerous as Nihilism though. Following radicalized ideals, someone might do the same actions as a nihilist for the opposite reason. A nihilist might burn down something because they came it does not exist so it does not matter. A radical could burn down the same thing because of a quote in the Bible about the burning bush or something. Without the use of reason, the actions of a radical become unreasonable. Because faith is the positive aspects of both nihilism (reason) and radicalism (belief), faith helps avoid contradiction of itself because the beliefs are supported by reason. The reason is also found in the beliefs.

Why do people have Nihilistic Ideas when they don't logically make sense?

I think Nihilism exists as a cop-out to the real questions of God and beliefs in other things. Just to say nothing exists is taking the easy way out instead of explaining your reasons for your actions. The problem with nihilism contradicting itself is kind of restricting, but the thought that nothing exists could be comforting to someone who needs something to believe.


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