As teenagers, who are constantly reevaluating what we believe and redefining who we are, faith is sometimes a thing that often gets overlooked. For the past couple of weeks, we have discussed reasons why Faith is lost or forgotten in our modern world. Our reading book citied three major challenges to Faith: Atheism, Scientism, and Dehumanization of Society. The first reason many people lose their faith is atheism. Many of the smartest minds in the past couple centuries have begun to question their faith and the existence of God. People like Friedrich Nietzsche and Thomas Hobbes have set up new philosophies and belief systems that make a lot of sense and that write out God as none existent. Behind the two atheists were two totally different types of atheism. Nietzsche was a Positive Atheist because he openly admitted that he believed there was no god and he believed that humanity will some day evolve into a form of perfection. Hobbes on the other hand was a practical atheist because he never openly said there was no god but through his form of philosophy obviously doesn’t believe in one. We also looked at a theologian, St. Ignatius, to compare his beliefs with Hobbes and Nietzsche. The next challenge to faith was scientism. Scientism is the belief that science leads to all the answers in the world and because of that theology is unneeded and outdated. Many people in our modern world believe this idea whether they recognize it or not. They feel that theology gives ridiculous answers to problems science has already solved with solid proof. There are three major problems to science that most people forget: Science presupposes the uniformity of nature, Science emphasis empirical knowledge, and the scientific method does not give us certitude. People often forget that science can never prove anything and that all it does is give educated guesses. The final challenge to faith is the dehumanization of society. The society we live in now focuses greatly on materialism and puts very little emphasis on the spiritual. The media, as well as many other aspects of society, try to convince us that all we need is to buy a product to be happy. Through the advertisements and entertainment of our culture we can be shaped to believe things we wouldn’t accept otherwise.

Science presupposes the uniformity of nature. This part of the reading really interested me because I never really thought about it before. When we use science we start off by using induction like all the apples I’ve ever seen have fallen therefore all apples fall. So much of what we base our knowledge off of is based on science and science is based on assumptions and induction. This may not frighten some but it really got me thinking how can we truly know anything? Aristotle, one of the greatest philosophers of the west and the foundation of many sciences, said that induction is a very weak form of knowledge because there’s no proof behind it ever and at any moment your induction, apples always fall, may be proven wrong by just one incident, a single apple not falling. So if science is all based on inductions then it always is based on ground that can be shaken at any moment. How can anyone ever know anything? This is a very nihilist question but I believe there is an answer to it that isn’t nihilist. Most of the things in this world, possibly all the things in this world, can never be completely known but faith helps us make a leap in believing in something. So in a way we can truly never know anything because science is based on induction and is never certain, just like theology and most other forms of study and knowledge, but by having faith we choose what we believe and we choose what is true to us.

Is God dead? Probably Nietzsche’s most famous quote is that “God is dead”. Nietzsche, a famous atheist, strongly believed in his theory of human evolution and in the nonexistence of God. Nietzsche theorized that the human race every so often produces an “Übermensch” or a “superhuman/superman”. He believed that certain people are born superior to others and these superior people chose their morale system, because he didn’t believe in abstract morality, and then they imposed their morality on the weaker humans through war or politics, etc… Nietzsche strongly believed that when he lived, during the 1800’s, the human race had evolved so much that belief in God was a thing of the past and all the belief that remained would soon die out. Whether or not you believe in a god, I think it’s obvious that God is not dead. Maybe belief had lessened during his life and maybe it still is, but , like our reading book says, I believe the church and science will grow to live together working towards the greater good of man. Nietzsche’s claim that “God is Dead” is a radical theory that I believe has no base. Ever since the beginning of man kind people have believed in something more and faith is something that constantly surrounds us, even if you are an atheist you make faith decisions all the time. As long as faith, with a little f, exists Faith, with a big F, will as well.

For centuries every human being that can think has pondered the question whether to believe in a greater being or not to believe. Atheism and Theism have often clashed over key beliefs and values and every human chooses some answer to this question. Why do people choose to believe, is a question often asked by atheist and likewise, why not believe, is asked by theist. Many atheist use science and reason to deduce that there is no god but there are many problems I see in using logic to deduce that God, a being outside of human logic, doesn’t exist. Science and logic can not give an answer to the questions of the spirit world because science and logic use solid facts that are maintained in the material world. Although I do not say atheism is a bad stance and likewise I don’t say theism is a good stance but I think the answer lies in the person. The only way to truly get to God is through faith because you may use logic all you want to prove or disprove his existence but when it comes down to it you must use leaps of faith to even assume certain aspects of logic. One can not contain something outside of logic in logic. Finally, although faith is the root of all belief in God, I don’t write out belief, or disbelief, in God through logic and through experiences in the material world, but either way you must make a leap of faith.

For me, the greatest challenge to my faith is the amount of work I face daily. Homework, projects, and tests along with work and co-curricular activities overwhelm me often. While I’m busy with work I find it extremely hard to set aside time for God and for Faith. Because God is such an abstract being, at least to most humans, when homework and other “tangible” things come rushing at me God is the first thing out of my mind.