Funny thing happened on the way to preparing this week’s small group ministry session: I became a little uncomfortable with the material offered on the subject at SpiritualityandPractice.com. They define it a couple of different ways in the “basic practice” section of Faith. One definition is “an acceptance of certain religious doctrines.” The other is “an awareness of and an attunement to God’s presence in our everyday experiences.” If these are the only definitions of faith available to us, I could imagine many humanists answering the question posed in the title of this blog with a hearty, “Absolutely nothin’, say it again, ya’ll!” And I wouldn’t blame ’em.
Which is why I’ve spend a lot of my time passing along this (hopefully) more palatable definition of faith by Wilfred Cantwell Smith, “Faith at its best has taken the form of a quiet confidence and joy which enable one to feel at home in the universe.” (I found this, by the way, in “Faith Reduced to Three Questions,” an excellent—and brief—essay on the subject by Judith Frediani from her days as Director of Lifespan Faith Development at our Unitarian Universalist Association). I’ve found that this definition is generally greeted with nods of agreement by UUs of all theological persuasions, so I wanted to present it as a foundation for the following small group ministry session on Faith. Oh, and I’m adding graphics to all future posts because, well, that’s just what you do in the blogosphere these days.
The Practice of Looking Deeply
Chalice/Candle Lighting
Opening words:
In Buddhism faith is nourished by understanding. The practice of looking deeply helps you to understand better. As you understand better, your faith grows. — Thich Nhat Hanh in Going Home
Check-in/Sharing
Topic:
An Excerpt from Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience by Sharon Salzberg
Meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg melds incidents from her life and Buddhist teachings to re-imagine this important human faculty. Here she makes distinctions between beliefs and faith.
When we hold a belief too tightly, it is often because we are afraid. We become rigid, and chastise others for believing the wrong things without really listening to what they are saying. We become defensive and resist opening our minds to new ideas or perspectives. This doesn’t mean that all beliefs are accurate reflections of the truth, but it does mean that we have to look at what’s motivating our defensiveness. . . .
With their assumptions of correctness, beliefs try to make a known out of the unknown. They make presumptions about what is yet to come, how it will be, what it will mean, and how it will affect us. Faith, on the other hand, doesn’t carve out reality according to our preconceptions and desires. It doesn’t decide how we are going to perceive something but rather is the ability to move forward even without knowing. Faith, in contrast to belief, is not a definition of reality, not a received answer, but an active, open state that makes us willing to explore. While beliefs come to us from outside — from another person or tradition or heritage — faith comes from within, from our active participation in the process of discovery. Writer Alan Watts summed up the difference simply and pointedly as, ‘Belief clings, faith lets go.’
Questions: Talk about a time when you found the ability to move forward in your life, even without knowing what was yet to come.
Check-out/Likes and Wishes
Closing Words:
The whole future of the Earth, as of religion, seems to me to depend on the awakening of our faith in the future.
— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin quoted in Spirit of Fire by Ursula King
To Practice This Thought: Consider writing a personal creed. Begin by listing “Beliefs I No Longer Have” and “Beliefs I Now Have.”
Group Session Plan based on resources on Faith from www.spiritualityandpractice.com.
For a PDF version of this small group ministry session, click here: Faith.
For more information on small group ministry, visit the UU Small Group Ministry Network.
Phil's Little Blog on the Prairie 
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April 15, 2011 at 2:16 pm
Jon
Transcend but include the original religious meaning. I would say, don’t try to water down such discussions for mass agreement. Be bold, say what faith can mean from traditional to more nuanced definitions. This is an opportunity to connect with our Unitarian and Universalist roots. How was, and is, faith understood by those who hold to traditional Unitarianism etc.
April 16, 2011 at 7:24 am
Phil on the Prairie
We certainly need to keep the original meanings in mind. For example, while Unitarian Universalism doesn’t require “an acceptance of certain religious doctrines,” it is a faith tradition. And anyone claiming to be a Unitarian Universalist should, ideally, know about that history of that tradition. As far as “an awareness of and an attunement to God’s presence in our everyday experiences” goes, I think there are legitimate ways to talk about that without requiring a belief in God. Perhaps something like “the transcendent dimension” or “sacred element” of life? But yes, as we work toward a fuller definition of what faith can mean, we should look at all of the relevant meanings. Thank you for your thoughts on this.
April 17, 2011 at 10:49 pm
Jon
Phil, in regard to – “As far as “an awareness of and an attunement to God’s presence in our everyday experiences” goes, I think there are legitimate ways to talk about that without requiring a belief in God. Perhaps something like “the transcendent dimension” or “sacred element” of life? ”
Read that again and tell me if you see a problem!
I would say that if God is considered present in our experiences than a belief in God cannot be in question. Calling God by different terms, aspects etc. is one way to talk about God, but by doing so we acknowledge God. Afterall, what is transcendent? What is sacred?
I think this gets to the problem with UUism today. As long as God is banished or disguised, there is no real opportunity for spiritual growth. Humanism and atheism are incapable of providing the fulfillment that spiritual seekers are looking for and explains why they leave.
April 18, 2011 at 6:47 am
Phil on the Prairie
I read it again, Jon, and I don’t see a problem. I’m all for talking about God in congregations. We should be asking questions that get everyone (including humanists and atheists) taking about what they believe about God. But I truly do not believe that the word God is required for a conversation about faith. By the way, one of my favorite definitions of God is one I heard from UU minister Jim Eller, “That which is in each of us, but is greater than all of us.” Some might say that describes the “transcendent dimension” or “sacred element” of life, too.
April 18, 2011 at 10:06 am
Jon
I see a contradiction in the statement “an awareness of and an attunement to God’s presence in our everyday experiences” and “without requiring a belief in God.” If one is aware and attuned to God one must believe in God.
Of course, any understanding of God is imperfect and limited, but to acknowledge God is to believe in God. An atheist cannot be attuned to God in everyday experiences because he rejects God.
April 18, 2011 at 10:48 am
Phil on the Prairie
“An awareness of and an attunement to God’s presence in our everyday experiences” is one of the Brussat’s definitions of faith, not mine. I find a definition of faith that requires a belief in God troubling, which is why I quote the Wilfred Cantwell Smith definition. Quoting one person’s statement on a subject, offering one’s reservations about that statement, then responding with a possible solution to those reservations does not equal a contradiction.
April 18, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Jon
In regard to “Faith Reduced to Three Questions” it makes for an interesting contrast with a more orthodox set of five points:
http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/501-hebrews-11-what-is-faith
1. Faith Is Rational
2. Faith Depends upon Revelation
3. Faith Involves Trusting Our Maker
4. Faith Is an Action Word
5. Faith Discriminates
Hebrews 11 is used as the source of the examples.
UUs would probably accept 1, 4,5. However, I think the word faith does require “trusting the unseen God is a vital component of true faith.”
I think UUs and other religious liberals tend to co-opt words and change their historic meaning or drain them of meaning just to claim to speak the language…other examples include sacred, prophetic, religion, God etc.
April 18, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Phil on the Prairie
I’m one of those word lovers who traces words back to their roots to see if I can find out what the original intent might have been. Faith seems to have some element of trust in it, which works well with what I’ve found out about the word “religion,” which shares the same root as the word “rely.” For me, both faith and religion are about those things in which we put our trust and on which we rely. My sense is they could apply to both secular things (civil religion) and sacred (religious texts).
April 18, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Jon
Civil religion is typically understood not as a secular system, but as Robert N. Bellah wrote –
http://www.robertbellah.com/articles_5.htm
“God” has clearly been a central symbol in the civil religion from the beginning and remains so today. This symbol is just as central to the civil religion as it is to Judaism or Christianity.”
“But there is every reason to believe that religion, particularly the idea of God, played a constitutive role in the thought of the early American statesmen.”
“It is concerned that America be a society as perfectly in accord with the will of God as men can make it, and a light to all nations.”
Earlier – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who originated the term:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_religion
Rousseau outlines the simple dogmas of the civil religion:
Deity
life to come,
the reward of virtue and the punishment of vice, and
the exclusion of religious intolerance.[1][2][3][4]
Deity, lift to come, reward, punishment etc. are not secular.
April 18, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Jon
As opposed to secularism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism
“Secularism is the belief that government or other entities should exist separately from religion and/or religious beliefs.”
Civil religion incorporates religious beliefs.
April 18, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Jon
A Humanist view of faith:
http://www.humanistperspectives.org/issue154/faith_and_thinking.html
practical philosophy
Faith & Thinking
by Trudy Govier
“What is faith? From a logical perspective, there are two fundamental aspects. First, a belief that is held as a matter of faith is not fully supported by cogent arguments. Second, such a belief is resistant to counter-evidence. We tend to interpret what we experience so as to maintain those beliefs we hold as faith.”
April 18, 2011 at 6:07 pm
Phil on the Prairie
Thanks for your thoughts, Jon.
April 28, 2011 at 6:49 am
helenofmarlowe
Hi Phil,
I like your definition of God (credited to Jim Eller) as “That which is in each of us, but is greater than all of us.”
April 28, 2011 at 8:45 am
Phil on the Prairie
It’s one of the most useful definitions of God I’ve found! Thanks.