The Assumption Of Faith
Faith is integral to human understanding. It influences science and religion by shaping how we interpret reality. From trusting historical records and scientific principles to exploring spiritual beliefs, faith begins with assumptions later supported by evidence.
Science operates on unprovable yet necessary foundations, just as religion seeks to understand the supernatural through reason and experience.
Rejecting faith entirely would limit human knowledge, as scientific discovery and religious belief require an openness to possibilities beyond immediate perception. Ultimately, faith is not just a spiritual concept but a fundamental aspect of navigating the world.
Why Have Faith?
Although faith is a common topic, it is widely misunderstood. Faith alone can be defined in numerous ways, each with its alternate description. Regardless, it is a concrete part of our world and an unavoidable component of the human experience.
Since it is sewn into the fabric of our lives, the question is not whether a person should have faith but rather what they should put their faith into.
To give an example of faith in our everyday lives, C.S. Lewis, world-renowned literary scholar, and theologian, argues that believing things based on authority is natural and necessary. Most of what we know—such as historical events, scientific facts, and even the existence of distant places—comes from trusting credible sources rather than firsthand experience.
He suggests rejecting authority would leave a person ignorant, as no one can independently verify everything.
“Don't be scared by the word authority. Believing things on authority only means believing them because you've been told them by someone you think trustworthy. Ninety-nine percent of the things you believe are believed on authority. I believe there is such a place as New York. I haven't seen it myself. I couldn't prove by abstract reasoning that there must be such a place. I believe it because reliable people have told me so. The ordinary man believes in the Solar System, atoms, evolution, and the circulation of the blood on authority because the scientists say so. Every historical statement in the world is believed on authority. None of us has seen the Norman Conquest or the defeat of the Armada. None of us could prove them by pure logic as you prove a thing in mathematics. We believe them simply because people who did see them have left writings that tell us about them: in fact, on authority. A man who jibbed at authority in other things as some people do in religion would have to be content to know nothing all his life.” - C.S. Lewis.
The Formation of Faith
Faith begins with necessary assumptions, which are further backed by evidence. Any argument or topic regarding the existence of Earth must be based on faith in something. Everyone in every field must start with certain basic assumptions.
Assumptions form much of the basis for how we interact with the world and each other every day, and science must naturally assume even preposterous ideas. For example, although one can simply come to an accepted answer, is it even possible to prove that the universe didn’t exist just five seconds ago? Our natural way of life would allow us to conclude that the universe was not made five seconds ago, but we must do so without logical proof.
Faith is a well-known aspect of science and mathematics. Scientists can all agree that assumptions, called working hypotheses, are necessary and coincide with conclusive evidence.
Famous mathematician Euclid, known for his contributions to geometry, wrote in his book The Elements of Euclid basic assumptions of truth without proof, such as “Things which are equal to the same thing are also equal to one another.” as well as assumptions of truth based on geometrical principles, such as “All right angles are equal to one another.”.
These are known as Euclid’s axioms and postulates. Both are used as a foundation for more complicated mathematical and geometric proofs.
Faith can even be derived from contemporary physics, such as Isaac Newton’s second law of motion: force is equal to mass multiplied by acceleration (F = ma). NASA, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, explains in Appendix B that first, an assumption must have been made that there even is a thing of force.
Take their example of an egg being dropped to the ground. One may calculate the “force” from Newton’s equation, the egg's mass multiplied by its acceleration due to gravity. However, the force itself is not measured since there is no way to measure the entity directly. Force and even gravity are assumed to exist, but we don’t know what they are.
The University of California, Berkeley, states three basic assumptions of science allow us to observe the natural world:
- There are natural causes for things that happen in the world around us.
- Evidence from the natural world can be used to learn about those causes.
- There is consistency in the causes that operate in the natural world.
To clarify further, an assumption must be made, with evidence backing it up. The laws of science must assume that the laws of nature that we observe existed in the past and will exist in the future. This is the premise of uniformitarianism, the idea that natural processes like erosion and deposition have operated in the same way throughout the history of the Earth.
Faith and Religion
Religion is ultimately a human universal. In every culture, there is an idea of some form of supernatural, something outside of our observable natural world, whether it be divinity, the afterlife, assistance, etc. Religion exists as part of our human nature; as a human instinct, we are born to satisfy.
Reintroducing C.S. Lewis from before, he suggests that natural desires exist because they have actual fulfillments—hunger points to food, thirst to water, and so on. If a person finds a longing that nothing can satisfy within themselves, it implies they were made for something beyond this world.
He states that Earthly pleasures are not meant to satisfy fully but to point toward a more significant, ultimate reality. He encourages embracing worldly blessings without mistaking them for true fulfillment, which lies in a higher, spiritual existence. The goal of life, then, is to seek that ultimate reality and help others do the same.
“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find until after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others do the same.” - C.S Lewis
Humans will seek to satisfy their hunger for the supernatural and will do so in all possible measures. If men are denied the knowledge of the true God, they will even create false gods to fulfill themselves of that spiritual need.
Why Seek Religion?
Not all religions are correct, which means many will be wrong. Many religious believers follow theirs simply because they were raised in it as children and will continue to follow it based on their muscle memory, even if it is wrong.
So then, with this being said, why choose religion if there’s evidence that it might be wrong? And in that question lies the key necessary to solve it. The essential element is evidence. We can compare this view of religion to the one we’ve just discussed about science: all arguments or topics must begin with an assumption that will be proved by further evidence. In this same sense, one can also understand that not all scientific proposals can be valid.
Most people are raised with the scientific views of their day, which are limited to the observational capabilities of the time. But does our adherence to the knowledge we can gather due to our lack of proper equipment give us a reason to question the enterprise of science, that science can simply not exist because we cannot measure it? Of course not; it is absurd to believe that science cannot exist beyond our natural observable realm. Our scientific duty is to think there are some supernatural realms we have yet to uncover. We would have never been able to push our knowledge further by lying still, remaining shackled by the chains of our current understanding.
In the equivocal sense, the enterprise of religion should not be questioned only because of our lack of knowledge, or rather the lack of a means to acquire this knowledge. Science and religion invite you to discover the evidence among them. Both proceed by looking at significant questions and then deciding which is right based on the evidence gathered, leading to subsidiary questions within that original topic.
For centuries, Western civilization's dominant view of matter was a more mathematical one: matter is an infinitely divisible medium. For example, a stone and its parts can be recursively divided by two into smaller and smaller pieces, leading to a continuous and never-ending division of the pieces.
The alternate view was Atomism, which states that matter is atomic and comprises smaller components. Albert Einstein later proved the existence of atoms, disproving the non-atomic theory. Once the matter question was sorted out, scientists could create and investigate subsidiary questions about atoms, such as “Are atoms the smallest thing to exist, or can atoms be divided into subatomic particles?” and “If the subatomic particles exist, what properties do they have?”
Religion follows the same path, constructed around more significant concepts that shed light on the smaller topics within them. This implies the hierarchy of truths: some truths are more central/precedent to the topic. The beginnings are more essential because the further proofs need the previous proofs to be correct. For example, the question “Does God exist?” is more central to the topic of religion than the question “What are the different types of angels?”.
This hierarchy of truths can lead us down a path of evidential proof. For religion, this can be “Is there good evidence that there is a God?” which can lead to “Is there evidence that God has interacted with history?” and then “Which religion proves God’s interaction?”
Understanding that evidence profoundly drives the discussion and that confidence comes from evidence is essential. Neglecting the role of evidence, which leads to religious indecision, is utter ignorance.
With evidence comes proof that some religious options are more probable than others. With numerous options for religion, it is rational to adopt the views of the religion until evidence is given that a different religion has a better claim to being true.
The Relationship Between Science and Faith
Some people may not believe in religious faith because they claim that science cannot accept the supernatural and that, therefore, nature is all that exists. As discussed earlier, the idea that there cannot be another realm beyond what we can observe is ignorant and, at best, outrageous. This prejudices the question by first assuming there is no such thing as the supernatural. Why is science the only thing that can make this assumption?
The claim that science cannot accept the existence of the supernatural because the assumption that nature is all that exists and that any evidence found that proves more than nature exists must be ignored is itself unscientific and, therefore, can’t be considered. The one who argues this assumes the conclusion they want to have and is willing to dismiss all evidence contradicting their conclusion.
We can see the natural world through our senses and tools to investigate, but we are limited to all we can sense. If we were to develop new senses and technologies, we would be able to detect all kinds of realms outside of our known world, even supernatural realms that are not detectable by our senses.
Knowing that our senses cannot detect everything, we must be open to the possibility that there are additional things that our senses cannot tell us about. The term “nature” is used to describe all that exists, but it doesn’t disprove religious claims simply because the “supernatural” would just be exotic parts of “nature” that are different from what we can sense. Who’s to say we should only accept the laws of science we’re capable of knowing?
Remember, the enterprise of science itself must begin with assumptions that we cannot prove, and believing only in what science proves is an oxymoron that undermines science since it must exist through faith.
Faith is not merely religious; it underpins knowledge, science, and daily life. Science and religion both operate by making assumptions and seeking evidence. Dismissing faith entirely, whether in science or spirituality, leads to an incomplete understanding of reality.
I ask you to perform your scientific duty and assume that perhaps the realm of the supernatural exists. To please dig deeper for evidence to provide the proper answers that lead to further subsidiary questions. I ask you to take a leap of faith.
May God bless you on your journey.