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A very powerful argument for empiricism.
A desire to put faith over reason is emblematic of a desire for power without accountability. A claim of unshakeable faith is a claim of knowledge without provability. It is a claim that attempts to exempt the speaker from having to pass his or her knowledge through review or challenge. It is a claim of divine right--that those who do not acknowledge the supposed superiority of faith cannot claim the power that comes with it.
If we abandon reason and accountability as bases for granting power, we will be left with an elite class that grants itself power by degree of faith; it is the ultimate goal of theocracy to do so. So long as we believe someone who says he or she knows the mind of the Divine, how can anyone argue with that person's "right" to power?
But it is the notion of faith as greater than reason that allows this to happen. In dire circumstances, faith beyond reason is understandable. Clinging to unreasonable hope in the face of damning evidence is a natural reaction. But we cannot allow that kind of desperate adherence to superstition to worm its way into the development and function of civil law and society.
This also means that we must stop attempts by the power-hungry to foment fear among the faith-prone. Keeping the populace in constant terror helps keep them in that state of clinging to the comfort of faith, and therefore vulnerable to the manipulations of those who claim to be men of God.
A desire to put faith over reason is emblematic of a desire for power without accountability. A claim of unshakeable faith is a claim of knowledge without provability. It is a claim that attempts to exempt the speaker from having to pass his or her knowledge through review or challenge. It is a claim of divine right--that those who do not acknowledge the supposed superiority of faith cannot claim the power that comes with it.
If we abandon reason and accountability as bases for granting power, we will be left with an elite class that grants itself power by degree of faith; it is the ultimate goal of theocracy to do so. So long as we believe someone who says he or she knows the mind of the Divine, how can anyone argue with that person's "right" to power?
But it is the notion of faith as greater than reason that allows this to happen. In dire circumstances, faith beyond reason is understandable. Clinging to unreasonable hope in the face of damning evidence is a natural reaction. But we cannot allow that kind of desperate adherence to superstition to worm its way into the development and function of civil law and society.
This also means that we must stop attempts by the power-hungry to foment fear among the faith-prone. Keeping the populace in constant terror helps keep them in that state of clinging to the comfort of faith, and therefore vulnerable to the manipulations of those who claim to be men of God.
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