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See Faith (character) for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer character, or fáith for the Irish prophets.

The word faith has various uses; its central meaning is similar to "belief", "trust" or "confidence", but unlike these terms, "faith" tends to imply a transpersonal rather than interpersonal relationship – with God or a higher power. The object of faith can be a person (or even an inanimate object or state of affairs) or a proposition (or body of propositions, such as a religious credo). In each case, however, the faithful subject's faith is in an aspect of the object that cannot be rationally proven or objectively known.

In religious contexts, "faith" has several different meanings. Sometimes, it means loyalty to one's religion. It is in the latter sense in which one can speak of, for example, "the Catholic faith" or "the Islamic faith." For creedal religions, faith also means that one accepts the religious tenets of the religion as true. For non-creedal religions, faith often means that one is loyal to a particular religious community. In general, faith means being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see with your physical (as opposed to spiritual) eyes.

Sometimes, faith means a belief in a relationship with a deity. In this case, "faith" is used in the sense of "fidelity." Such a commitment need not be blind or submissive, although it often shares these types of characteristics. For many Jews, for example, the Hebrew Bible and Talmud depict a committed but contentious relationship between their God and the Children of Israel. For quite a lot of people, faith or the lack thereof, is an important part of their identities. E.g. a person will identify him or herself as a Muslim or a skeptic.

Many religious rationalists, as well as non-religious people, criticise implicit faith as being irrational. In this view, belief should be restricted to what is directly supportable by logic or evidence and nothing should be believed unless supported by the Scientific method.

Sometimes, faith means a belief in the existence of a deity, and can be used to distinguish individual belief in deities from belief in deities within religion. However it can also be used in context of belief in deities within religions. ManyJews, Christians and Muslims claim that there is adequate historical evidence of their God's existence and interaction with human beings. As such, they may believe that there is no need for "faith" in God in the sense of belief against or despite evidence; rather, they hold that evidence is sufficient to demonstrate that their God certainly exists, and that particular beliefs, concerning who or what their God is and why this God is to be trusted, are vindicated by evidence and logic. For people in this category, "faith" in a God simply means "belief that one has knowledge of [any particular] God". It is logically impossible that all these different religions with their mutually contradictory beliefs can simultaneously be true. Therefore the majority of believers have faith in a belief system which is in some ways false, which they have difficulty describing at least. This is disputed though by some religious traditions especially in Hinduism who hold the view that the several different faiths are just aspects of the ultimate truth that the several religions have difficulty to describe and understand. They see the different religions as just different paths to the same goal. This does not explain away all logical contradictions between faiths but these traditions say that all seeming contradictions will be understood once a person has an experience of the Hindu concept of moksha.

What is believed concerning God, in this sense, is at least in principle only as reliable as the evidence and the logic by which faith is supported.

Finally, some religious believers – and many of their critics – often use the term "faith" as the affirmation of belief without an ongoing test of evidence, and even despite evidence apparently to the contrary. Most Jews, Christians and Muslims admit that whatever particular evidence or reason they may possess that their God exists and is deserving of trust, is not ultimately the basis for their believing. Thus, in this sense faith refers to belief beyond evidence or logical arguments, sometimes called "implicit faith". Another form of this kind of faith is fideism: one ought to believe that God exists, but one should not base that belief on any other beliefs; one should, instead, accept it without any reasons at all. Faith in this sense, grounded simply in the sincerity of faith, belief on the basis of believing, is often associated with Søren Kierkegaard for example, and some other existentialist religious thinkers; his views are presented in Fear and Trembling. William Sloane Coffin counters that faith is not acceptance without proof, but trust without reservation.

Contents 1 Christianity 2 Islam 3 Buddhism 4 Rastafari 5 See also 6 Further reading 7 External links 8 Classic reflections on the nature of faith 9 The Reformation view of faith

Christianity

Faith in Christianity centers on faith in the saving grace of Christ the Son of the living God, who died for the sin of the world. The precise meaning and content of faith in Christianity differs somewhat between the various Christian religions. The definition of this quality for Christians is found in the scriptural text at Hebrews 11:1: "Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not yet beheld". (NWT)

For more, see: Faith in Christianity

Islam

Faith in Islam centers on faith in the fulfillment of prophecy by Mohammed, the prophet and messenger of the holy God Allah.

For more, see: Faith in Islam

Buddhism

Faith (saddha/ sraddha) is an important constituent element of the teachings of the Buddha - both in the Theravada tradition as in the Mahayana. While not of the “blind” variety and on occasion linked with insight (prajna), Buddhist faith (as advocated by the Buddha of the various scriptures) nevertheless requires a degree of trusting confidence and belief primarily in the spiritual attainment and salvational knowledge of the Buddha. Faith in Buddhism centres on belief in the Buddha as a supremely Awakened being, on his unexcelled role as teacher of both humans and gods, in the truth of his Dharma (spiritual Doctrine), and in his Sangha (community of spiritually developed followers). Faith in Buddhism functions as a form of motor, which propels the Buddhist practitioner towards the goal of Awakening (bodhi) and Nirvana.

For more, see Faith in Buddhism

Rastafari

Faith to the Rastafarians implies knowledge of the divinity of Haile Selassie rather than belief in this proposition, as Rastas claim not to hold belief systems. The word faith does not hold such negative connotations. Their faith in Selassie as God, and as the being who is going to end their sufferings at the day of judgement when they will return to live in Africa under his rule is at the centre of their lives. The dreadlocks are worn as an open declaration of faith in and loyalty towards Haile Selassie, while marijuana is seen to help cultivate a strong faith by bringing the faithful closer to God. Rastas have faith when 2 or more of them come together to reason about their religion that Haile Selassie is with them. Selassie is seen as both God the Father, who created Heaven and earth, and as God the Son, the Reincarnation of Jesus Christ. To complete the Holy Trinity the Holy Spirit is seen as being in the believers themselves, and within all human beings. The announcement of the death of Selassie in 1975 did not disturb the faith of the Rastas, who assumed that God cannot die, and that therefore the news was false. Rastas also have a faith in physical immortality, both for Haile Selassie and for themselves.

See also

• Apostasy
• Belief system
• Faith and rationality
• Major world religions
• Religious conversion
• Rationalism
• True-believer syndrome
• Wishful thinking
• Crisis of faith

Further reading

• Sam Harris, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, W. W. Norton (2004), hardcover, 336 pages, ISBN 0393035158

External links

• Epistemology of the religion, article from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy by Peter Forrest
• John Calvin on Justification by Faith from The Institutes of the Christian Religion
• Charles Spurgeon on the Warrant of Faith
• B.B. Warfield on Justification By Faith
• The Skeptic's Dictionary entry on Faith
• Catholic Encyclopedia entry on Faith
• Faith in Judaism chabad.org

Classic reflections on the nature of faith

• Martin Buber I and Thou
• Paul Tillich The Dynamics of Faith

The Reformation view of faith

• John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion
• R.C. Sproul, Faith Alone

This article is based on the article "Faith" from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License. Here you find the list of authors of this article. The article can only edited within Wikipedia. Edit this article in Wikipedia.

the muse, successor to The Memorial Times, began publishing in 1950 as an unnamed paper. That paper held a contest to choose a new name, the winner being a professor who named the paper after all of the following:

• a bastardization of the Greek letters M and U, for Memorial University;
• a reference to the Greek gods of the arts;
• a joke, saying this was MU's (Memorial University's) paper;
• and the role of a paper as a place where students could muse.

Beginning with a small, student union controlled editorial staff, the muse grew into the autonomous, student run paper it is today. It, like Memorial, has gone through phases. In the early years it was a campus gossip tabloid, while in the late 60s it developed an activist flair that attracted the attention of the provincial government and the RCMP predecessor to CSIS, the latter of whom included the muse in their investigations of supposedly Marxist organizations. In the late eighties the paper was enlivened by the women's movement, and followed a more activist agenda, including special coverage of gay, lesbian and bisexual issues not discussed in the mainstream media, and a boycotted list of advertisers.

the muse focuses more so on campus life, Newfoundland, university research, university and city politics and the local music and sport scenes and periodically reports on world politics and social justice.

the muse is often recognized in newspapers, magazines, and campus guides as one of Canada's best student newspapers. the muse currently distributes 12,000 copies a week to various parts of multiple campuses, and throughout St. John's, Newfoundland.

the muse is a member of Canadian University Press (CUP), a non-profit co-operative and newswire service owned by about 70 student newspapers at post-secondary schools in Canada.

Many writers with the muse have gone on to successful careers in not only in journalism, but in arts, business, music, law and politics.

Well Known muse Contributors

• Brian Tobin: Former Newfoundland and Labrador Premier, and one-time Canadian Prime Minister contender

• John Gushue: CBC writer and Telegram columnist

• Doug Letto: CBC: Here and Now Senior Producer

• Clyde Wells: Former Premier and Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Judge

• Bob Hallet: Great Big Sea drummer

• Peter Jackson: An editor with the St. John's daily newspaper The Telegram

• Earle McCurdy: President of the Fish Food and Allied Workers union (FFAW)

• Wayne Johnston: Famed author of The Divine Ryans and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams

• David Cochrane: CBC radio political reporter

• Donna Butt: Newfoundland actress and co-founder of Rising Tide Theatre

• Steve Bartlett: Editor of the St. John's weekly The Express

• Gwynne Dyer: Internationally acclaimed journalist and author, with a syndicated column in several countries

• Wallace Ryan: Newfoundland artist and ardent nationalist

• Bill Gillespie: CBC international correspondent

• Ron Crocker: Former Regional Director of CBC in Atlantic Canada

• Michael Conners: NTV Evening News Reporter and occasional anchor

• Fred Gamberg: Late Promoter of local music acts

This article is based on the article "the Muse" from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License. Here you find the list of authors of this article. The article can only edited within Wikipedia. Edit this article in Wikipedia.