Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of using faith as a basis for knowledge in religion

and in one area of knowledge from the ToK diagram.

Sometimes there might be a claim from ‘some sections’ that what is the use of having faith in
religion when having faith in religion leads to chaos and anarchy, leave alone knowledge and
wisdom. However this is one side of looking at this. The counter claim to the above statement
is that religion has existed since time immemorial, right since the cradle of civilization and
the progress of mankind had happened in the presence of religion. So faith in religion is a
natural thing which is a part of human nature as for generations most of the people in the
world are having the natural inclination towards religion by the virtue of faith. Faith is the
felling, emotion or conviction that makes people believe in something – it might not
necessarily be religion alone but often faith is somewhat ‘blind’ as at times it does not
includes rationality and logic an people might have faith on something just because they think
highly of a thing by their sense of perception and emotion. For example a father may have
tremendous faith on his son or daughter or a husband on his wife or an employer on it’s
employee.

But faith can be a one sided affair – the other side might not have the same kind of
reciprocation for the feelings of the other party. For example even if parents might have faith
on the ability of their children, the children might not have similar feelings for their parents
and might not have equal faith on their parents. A father might have full faith on his son that
he will pass the exam but the son might not have faith on his abilities as he might not having
enough preparation to pass the exam. Or it might also be the other way round – the parents
might have little or no faith in the abilities of their children and wards but the latter might
have enough faith and confidence in their abilities to achieve anything that might come as a
surprise to their doubtful parents. Similarly an employer might have tremendous faith on an
old employee and might trust him or her blindly but that ‘old employee’ might have some
other goal and designs in winning such a faith and might one day vanish with the cash and
kind of the firm he or she might be working for. So the knowledge issue that arises here is
that how can then faith be used as a basis for gaining knowledge from religion as both
religion and faith seem to stand on shaky grounds. This might be quite true but if we take
closer look around us, we will find that faith can be used a basis for gaining knowledge in
religion.
The key terms in the statement are faith and knowledge. If we take the first term we might
want to know that what faith is actually. Faith can be termed as an emotional feeling that
causes a strong and unconditional belief or trust in a person, place or a thing that might or
might not have any rational or logic at all in the first place itself. But faith is not dependent on
logic, proof and rationality as in faith the two main ways of knowing is perception and
emotion. Emotion plays a big role in faith and this emotional trait of human beings makes
them deeply inclined towards religion. The knowledge issue here is that how can faith be
used as a basis for knowledge in religion and even if any knowledge is achieved, what is it’s
relevance i.e., how useful and correct can such a knowledge be considered?

If we take the area of religion we have numerous instances when faith in religion has always
provided some knowledge and information. For example some sects and groups of people in
India like the ‘Bishnois’ who are native to the state of Rajasthan are natural worshippers of
nature and hardcore environmentalists right form the sixteenth century BC. One of the
mission in their lives is to protect the environment – the trees, animals etc., in their area and
had even sacrificed their lives in doing so. The Blackbuck killing case related to the famous
Bollywood actor Salman Khan is also due to the courtesy of the Bishnoi people. Their
religion makes the protection of environment a sacred duty for them and they had been doing
this religiously for a long time. Protection of the environment is a prime concern in today’s
time and the Bishnoi’s had been doing a tremendous job in protecting the nature. This is one
example where faith as a basis of knowledge in religion can be sometimes good for the
people in general. The vegetarian people of India, mainly the Jains and the marwaris abstain
from eating meat and non vegetarian diet simply due to their faith in their religion as their
religion forbids them to eat any form of non vegetarian matter. The world is now rapidly
moving towards the vegetarian theme and people are shifting more towards a vegetarian
regime of late due to health reasons. Further non violence and the principle of ahimsa is also
another important practice followed by these sects, especially by Jains as it holds an
important part in their religion. We all know how much importance does the principles of non
violence carries in these days as violence only begets violence and we need more number of
Gandhis today to counter the tide of hatred and violence prevalent in the people of the world.
However a counter claim to the above statement can be is that then why cannot we consider
each and every knowledge derived by faith in religion to be good and beneficial for mankind?
This is because faith in religion is mainly an emotional thing and most of the times the
knowledge gained by faith in religion is of little or no use. For example in the earlier times
people used to believe that the sun moved round the earth simply due to their faith in religion.
Similarly the Papacy and the Church advocated against the use of condom as it believed it
was against the nature of law and this had a severe impact on the containment of AIDS and
other STD diseases. The ban on the use of contraceptives by the Papacy was also an example
where faith in religion often leads to wrong knowledge and beliefs and it can be harmful to
the people and the society.

In the case of Human Sciences, it is seen that the knowledge derived from such a faith in this
area of knowledge hold more ground than religion due to the nature of the human sciences.
For example people have tend to put more faith in the discoveries and theories of the
scientists and the ways of knowing of perception, logic, language and emotion makes the
people attached to the natural sciences. There can be a claim here that emotion might not
have a major role in the gaining of knowledge but emotion plays a definite role in natural
sciences. The immense number of important and radical discoveries by scientists mean that
more and more people are getting emotionally attached towards the human sciences. For
example in the environmental sciences I had found that more and more people are getting
aware about the need to protect the environment due to greater awareness on the need to
protect the planet and it’s environment. This is one example where emotion comes to play in
the spread and dissemination of such a knowledge. People are naturally inclined to the
environmental issues as it is a burning one and is a reality that is of immediate concern to all.
The recent protests at the major economic and environmental summits like Copenhagen,
Durban and by various groups like Green Peace are examples where people are having
knowledge about the state of the environment due to their faith in the environmental sciences.
Not only environmental issues but issues related to economic theories and economic policies
are now being met with greater scepticism and protests by the people from all over the world
as people are being more aware of their benefits and rights and feel that the big developed
nations are choking and depriving the small and developing nations of growth and
sustainability. But even though people might gain good amount of knowledge by having faith
in the area of the human sciences like environmental sciences and economics, not all the
knowledge provided by these subjects can be considered as final and definitive. As
knowledge is always subject to change and new and latest discoveries nullify and negate old
knowledge. For example it is widely believed now that the theory of climate change was not
a reality but a big hoax created by some nations in collusion with some scientists so that they
might get favour and upper hand in the environmental and economic summits so that they can
continue to use the natural resources in an unabated manner as per their wish.

So even if faith can be a good source of knowledge in the human sciences and even if people
benefit from such knowledge, it cannot be proved that all the knowledge derived from faith in
human sciences can always be true, factual, correct and beneficial to people. Just as
knowledge derived from faith in religion can be false and irrelevant, the same can be said true
for the knowledge derived from the faith in human sciences like false economic theories and
environmental issues. But both religion and human sciences can be a source of knowledge by
the virtue of our faith in them and at times it can be of beneficial to us. However we need to
use a proper discretion and judgement before jumping at any conclusion as not all knowledge
may be correct or beneficial to us.

Word Count –

Bibliography

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-01-17/news/28427520_1_custodian-hnis-
400-crore-fraud

http://realityviews.blogspot.in/2011/01/understanding-citibank-fraud-after-shiv.html

http://www.allaboutreligion.org/definition-of-faith-faq.htm

http://www.lifepositive.com/spirit/traditional-paths/tribal-faiths/bishnoi.asp

http://www.bishnoism.com/

http://www.jainstudy.org/Vegetarianism.htm

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=faith-and-foolishness

http://www.globalissues.org/article/45/public-protests-around-the-world

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http://www.globalwarminghoax.com/news.php