On faith and ideology: can they exist independently? To me, faith means believeing in things (ideas, concepts, claims, reports, descriptions, explanations) for which there is no evidence whatsoever. It means eternal patience — a willingness to await proof that never comes. Ideology, as I understand it, is the tales we spin that give faith form and substance.
So faith is THAT you believe without reason or evidence, and ideology is WHAT you believe. Or?
The path to error begins with faith. Absent faith, we would have to face life rationally and realistically. For many, that is a terrifying prospect, certainly.
The alternative, however, is often terrible. The Christianity of the 14th century existed in a time of powerful faith, and was a horror beyond our comprehension. The most preposterous and inhumane principles were considered ordained by the allmighty creator. Without faith, the obscenity would have collapsed.
That’s not to say that from our fetid imaginations no good can possibly come: if I believed in a Moon goddess who tells me to be kind, I would, presumably, be a better person than if I believed (as Koran-believing Muslims do) that it is my task in life to see to Islam’s expansion.
The problem, IMHO: whenever you have faith, there is much you can get wrong. Setting aside reason is never a positive step. That contention leads me to resist the exclusive identification of the good results of faith with faith itself. Similarly, I would not define guesswork as only what you do when you get good results from making choices at random.
