Faith with a small "f" refers to a faith in others around you. Faith with a capital "F" is a faith in God and a dedication to your religion.
We looked at a suicide bomber and his beliefs and tried to determine how strong his faith was and what kind of faith he had. Our class seemed to think that his faith and Faith were strong but personally I slightly disagree. I think he certainly has a strong faith but I am not sure that his grasp of the values of the muslim religion is a solid one. I find it hard to believe that a religion would value death over life, terror over peace. I know the Koran says to fight for your religion but couldn't Marwan the suicide bomber be more succesful and influential to his religion by becoming some kind of a muslim priest or something or simply dedicating his life to the service of the poor?
We also looked at the lives of two Jesuits working at the missions in Central America. To me they seem to be people of very strong faith and Faith in that they chose to stay and defend the people and the work they had dedicated their lives to in the belief that it was God's will.
We also learned about the seven aspects of the Catholic defenition of Faith:
1)Faith is a grace
2)Faith is a human response
3)Faith is a risk
4)Faith is reasonable
5)Faith is certain
6)Faith seeks understanding
7)Faith is a virtue
We also read about Radicalism. Radicalism is adamantly believing in something with no real evidence for its truth. Fundamentalism and Fanaticism are other forms of Radicalism.
Fundementalism is translating holy books directly and literally. Fanaticism is when you believe in something so zealously that your actions become unreasonable and even hypocritical.
Two questions that I have are about: whether or not the Catholic defenition of Faith is valid for other major religions as well? How is the guy in the movie "The Mission", Roderigo, able to become a jesuit in like a few weeks when normally it takes years?