Faith vs. belief

June 24th, 2023

That came as a surprise to me — I always thought that belief and faith were synonyms, and a quick glance at the dictionary tells me that they can be treated as such. But an off-hand remark I read recently made me rethink the relationship between those two words and corresponding ideas.

I take faith as something fundamental. Something that cannot be changed or challenged. A core that supports thinking and being. And with any potential objections (internal or external) faith will respond with a vicious fight back. And in the unlikely case when faith can be reduced by or to doubt, it will bring existential dread and alienation, since faith is shared by an unspoken bond between true believers and jointly taken as trustworthy without any possibility of a mistake.

With belief — that is more of a personal matter. I take things as true and believe in them. But, even as painful as it might be — I still am open to questions and challenges to those beliefs. Or at least I accept that there are other beliefs that might be as valid as mine and just as true given the circumstances and particulars. And beliefs can change, as I can see in myself. There are things that make me ashamed when I think back about as I truly believed in them.

With faith — it happened only once for me when I developed enough doubts to give up and stop having the said faith. As a young teen, I was not only very religious, but my faith was fundamental to my being as a person. Any challenges to it were met with a counterattack by me. Any challenges from the outside, that is. Internally, I allowed myself a tiny sliver of room for a question. Just one question. I still felt like a traitor and a sinner. But the thirst for the truth was stronger. That one question allowed me space to ask another. And more after that. And there was no bang or fireworks in the end — just acceptance that something I held dear was simply a mistake or an illusion. And I haven't had true faith in anything since then.