The Point of Faith

In a previous post, I wrote:

The point of having faith is not to escape reality, but to see it clearly, as it is, and still be able to go on, because one has hope for something better and believes in something higher. This sort of faith takes strength of character, and it gives strength in return. It is precisely this sort of faith-- and this sort of strength of character that Bush lacks. Bush's problem, in short, is not that he has faith. It is that he lacks character.

Commenting on this post, Sean wrote:

I'm not sure I understand "the point of having faith is ... to see [reality] clearly". Isn't a good definition of faith "belief in the absence of evidence"? Whatever good points faith may have, I don't see how one can argue that seeing reality clearly is one of them.

Faith is paradoxical in this sense: Although it depends on belief in what cannot be known, it helps us deal with what can be known. Having faith means being able to accept the world and all of its imperfections for what it is, and still be able to go on, because one believes in something else.

Put another way, we must not use faith as a crutch to keep us from confronting unpleasant realities. Instead, we must use faith as a source of strength given the fact that life is not always fair and does not always hand us the best set of circumstances. We must play the cards we are dealt, and to do that, we need faith.

Thus, there are two kinds of faith: faith that lets people go on believing what they want to believe in spite of good evidence to the contrary, and faith that enables people to surmount difficulties in their lives that no one else thought they could surmount. The former sort of faith is a form of blindness; the latter sort of faith requires honesty about one's self and one's situation. The former sort of faith keeps us stuck in our present circumstances; the latter sort of faith allows us to improve our circumstances and the circumstances of those around us.

Which kind of faith does the President have? Which kind does he expect from those who support him? The answers to these questions are central to what people should do in this upcoming election.