Faith doesn't need to be turned religious

Does everybody have faith?

It takes more faith to have faith in yourself and that things with a bit of work are worth working for even if it goes wrong than it does to think God is tweaking things for you and guiding you.  Yes. Everybody has faith but not everybody has a religious faith. We have faith it is safe to go to work tomorrow and some of us that believe that not because we think there is a magic angel watching over us but because we do not. We know that life is usually safe. Some feel less safe in the hands of magical beings for the reality is that even if they exist they are no guarantee that things will always be okay. I think religious faith needs not ridicule but needs the believers to be encouraged to think. If religion is untrue people need to think their way out of it.

Faith in the general sense rests on and assumes and advocates principles. For example, lies will be overcome. Everything happens for a reason. Good will win eventually for evil is just a parasite on good. Unpack faith - break it down into its components and examine each one. If most of the components are bad or dangerous then faith is to be condemned. Atheists tend to faith in the general way we have described. So do religionists. There are overlaps. But atheists make it about luck and expecting the best to happen for that is better than expecting the worst all the time. That is a pragmatic faith. It is not the same as religion which says the same things for different reasons. The religionist has the luck faith and turns it towards God. To be clear faith in the pragmatic sense si the automatic and default one. God is built on it. God is meant to be the be all and the end all but here God is tacked on. That is not real belief in God but using him. “I submit to the will of God,” sounds so devout but really means, “This is about how I see God and I submit to that. I know I cannot always have my own way so that is not as selfless as it looks. It is clever and practical. Sorry I am clever and practical.”

Lies manipulate the truth and so it can be hard work exposing them. It may take a second to tell a truth but it may take an hour to unravel and refute a lie. The laziness of most people in dealing with suspected lies show how dangerous their faith is that the lie will tear itself apart or somebody else will do it if they do not bother.