by Kevin J. Browne

Created on: August 24, 2009   Last Updated: August 27, 2009

What's wrong with using faith as evidence for God's existence? Many will likely be wondering this as the search for evidence beyond one's own faith continues. But, what's wrong with basing our beliefs solely on faith without worrying about evidence?

Well, there are several things wrong with this. First, it ignores the possibility that there is relevant evidence. By skipping the search for evidence and going straight to faith we might be missing some useful information and interesting insights.

Second, it is important to remember that even the most faithful of philosophers and theologians have recognized that it is important to ground their faith in reason, evidence, and knowledge. This is why St. Thomas Aquinas offered five ways for proving the existence of God for us to examine.

Third, if you concede that faith is all that is required when it comes to drawing conclusions about one of these questions we're addressing (probably the one about God) why not concede that faith is all that is required for drawing conclusions about the other questions as well? You might respond by saying that for those other questions there is evidence whereas for the question of God's existence there is none so we have no recourse but to rely on faith. Which brings me to:

Fourth, if all we have to go on is faith and no evidence how do we know what to believe with regard to one or any of these questions. By definition without evidence or objective facts to draw on everyone is right about what they believe it no matter what this might be. What is the problem with this? It illustrates that the belief (in this case about God's existence) is not really a belief about how the world is but about what the believer feels. This is fine as far as it goes but most believers do think that their beliefs say something about how the world really is as opposed to merely how they feel.

So, the search for evidence is important. What if that search fails to find any evidence? There are several responses one can make.

Believe whatever you want anyway. Suspend belief entirely. Believe what the evidence allows and nothing more.

Of course, you are free to choose which of these options you wish. Two important final points seem relevant though. David Hume once said that "the wise man proportions his belief to the evidence" and Christopher Hitchens has been quoted as saying "what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."

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