Thinking Through the Creed, Conclusion
When you read the writings of non-religious people, especially more committed, doctrinaire atheists, you get the sense that they assume that faith is a kind of certainty about God--a person, for whatever reason or through whatever process, becomes "sure" that God exists and has certain qualities. And, to be fair, many religious people certainly try very hard to project that vision of what faith is, and certain theologies (especially certain Evangelical theologies) try to affirm that vision. But I don't think that's what faith means. In fact, that sort of certainty is a kind of self-hypnosis, a way to ward off our own doubts about our lives and their meaning. But we shouldn't be warding off doubt, as disturbing and dislocating as doubt can be. Faith is not the enemy of doubt; faith is a posture of incorporating doubt into our world view. Having faith means living in the uncertain space created by our doubts, not banishing or denying the doubts bu...