“Faith and Modernity” by Karen Armstrong

In the Western world, a strong belief in the objective truths of reli­gion, which are viewed as incontrovertible, demonstrable facts, is regarded as essential to the life of faith. When asking if somebody is religious, people often inquire: “Does he or she believe?” as though accepting certain creedal propositions was the prime religious activ­ity. Indeed, faith is equated with belief, but this equation is of recent provenance. Originally the meaning of the word “faith” was akin to trust, as when we say that we have faith in a friend or an ideal. Faith was not an intellectual position but a virtue: it was the careful culti­vation, by means of the rituals and myths of religion, of the convic­tion that, despite all the dispiriting evidence to the contrary, life had some ultimate meaning and value.

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