Is Faith a Virtue?

Many believers say faith is a virtue and you should strive to put your faith in God. But is this a good thing or a potentially damaging way to think about things?

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[Cosmological]

Faith is a virtue like atheism is a religion.

[conservativeheathen]

Another great video Diane! Faith can be a virtue (when it is innocuous or by chance aligns with a positive outcome), but as you point out, once it is used as a justification to dismiss personal responsibility for actions or the outcome of actions, it becomes a vise... and often it becomes what would be considered by most people as E V I L...

[unholyatheist]

Currently I am busy reading Thinking, Fast and Slow, from Daniel Kahneman. I think emotion is more linked to thinking fast (system 1), as emotion gives us an instant answer on how something makes us feel, and evidence based thinking is related to thinking slow (system 2), it really takes quite some effort to weigh the evidence.

[thescapegoatmechanism]

I think what you referred to as colloquial faith still lacks a certain degree of evidence that you’re not taking into consideration. Take faith in friends: You’re not with them 24/7, yet you’re confident that they remain true friends with you despite your lack of physical evidence. For all you know, they could be talking behind your back, sleeping with your significant other, stealing from you, etc. Would you not consider your faith in them a virtue even though you lack a certain degree of evidence?

The same can also be said of the theist. They may see the world “through heavens eyes” yet there’s always the possibility of self-dupery. Both cases lack a certain degree of evidence, yet they are self justifying.

[Onesowndemon]

What happens when your faith is reinforced by critical thinking and evidence. Like the greeks and khaos mirroring the big bang theory.