There are people who
vigorously attempt to promote the idea that faith
and reason are mutually exclusive or
inherently at odds with each other. This
is not true.
An act of faith does
not have to exclude reason. In fact,
everyone exercises faith in the course of life--even people who have no
religious belief or affiliation. We
simply cannot have a complete knowledge of everything and, therefore, we all must
move through life exercising some measure of faith.
For example, driving
over a bridge is an act of faith. Sure,
it is a reasonable act of faith. But in
the history of the world, bridges have collapsed. When you and I drive across a bridge we do not
first obtain structural reports and conduct safety tests. We just drive, believing the bridge was
designed and constructed in a safe and responsible way. That is an act of faith on our part.
Faith does not
exclude reason and reason does not exclude faith. They are both aspects of the full experience
of life.
