Philosophy / Science / Religion

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I recently had an interesting discussion on Facebook with an old friend on religion, philosophy, etc and it wandered into a subject that I am very interested in lately. Writing it out made me realize how much this has crystallized in my head.

"Faith" is defined as a belief that is not based on any evidence whatsoever. This makes no sense to me. I do not have "faith" in things, I "believe" them to be true, due to observable evidence. This could, theoretically, include a belief in a God if I felt I witnessed any evidence for God's existence. I'm seeing evidence mount in the opposite direction.

Does this mean I've lost a connection to our communal spirituality, or the wonder of being? Quite the contrary. It's my firm belief that feelings of connectivity and delight in nature are quite natural and have no need for a magical shadow world. The more I learn about animals the more evidence I find that they have their own versions of connectedness and purpose and morality which are quite similar to our own and have no need for omnipotent authority.

I have come to believe that all of our impulses, much like our physical attributes, are derived from our evolutionary history. And just like our obvious physical similarities to other animals, mental gymnastics like morals, loyalties and respect are also evident in animals. The idea that we either a) were bestowed with these abilities by a higher being, b) created these concepts ourselves, or c) have evolved them out of whole cloth in a clean break from the rest of the animal kingdom is an illusion. Even spirituality, which is another way of saying you feel connected to things around you, is a version of what other creatures feel, all the way down to worker ants. (I love this video.)

I hope I don't upset anyone, but it seems plain to me that we are just as amazing as the other animals on this planet - which is plenty enough to be proud of without an invented divide.

What say you?