Faith and Reason

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Faith and Reason
Introduction
Faith and reason are two interacting realities that cannot realistically function without each other. However, in our world today faith is a topic to be looked at very carefully since there are so many types of belief systems in the world. Consequently, with proper reasoning being applied to faith it is possible to revoke the authenticity of some of the faiths practiced by some communities. Therefore, according to Martin Albl many of the different faiths apart from the Christian faith can be viewed as options rather than reason based (Albl 2). The objective of this essay is to discuss the different relationships that can exist between faith and reason, the different ways of describing faith, and the role of reason in theology.
Faith and Reason
One of the relationships between faith and reason can be observed through the foundation of moral principles. The principles which govern morality are present in the consciousness of every human being. Yet these principles are not necessarily taught to humans rather they come from a transcendent governing authority. If morality was something created by humans it would be possible manipulate it to accommodate human preferences (Albl 44). In fact, some of these instances include the condoning of murder in the Islamic religion and the worship of animals in Hindu (Nasr 103).
Another way of looking at the relationship between faith and reason is that faith supersedes reason. Reason can only apply to the known or studied aspects of life which can be observed physically (McKaughan 111). However, when it come to explaining some of the most troubling questions such as who are humans and where we came from, only faith gives motivating answers. Many people opt to look at science for questions but adversely, science says humans have only evolved from monkeys (Hafen 16). Such an answer only undermines things such as principles of morality since they are now seen as only man made. Consequently, such a...