Truth Sometimes Goes Under — But It Never Dies
Questions of meaning are on everyone's lips in today's age of crisis. Yet traditional faith and Christian religiosity are not having an easy time of it. On the one hand, the psychological self-help market and the esoteric scene are booming — many people seek guidance in more or less absurd belief systems, ranging from astrology and aura-soma to crystal therapy, Native American ear candles and shamanism, tarot reading and Bach flower remedies. On the other hand, the major religions have long since lost their innocence in this part of the world. For many people today, established belief systems have a deeply ambivalent face: on one side, they offer genuine psychological support and help to the faithful — not only in times of crisis; on the other, acts of suicide bombing and religious warfare are carried out in their name, and sexual abuse of children has flourished — and continues to flourish — beneath their cover.
What Does Faith Mean?
The wordfaithcarries both a religious and an everyday dimension. In everyday life, it refers to the fundamental readiness to accept a particular state of affairs as true — without having examined or being able to examine it. One might say: faith is certainty without proof. Since individual faith is something highly subjective, and since God cannot — in all probability — be proved, this applies to religion as well.
"The success of the dear Lord is connected to the fact that no one can see him."
In the religious sphere, faith is most helpful when the religious worldview has been well integrated into a person's life. It then becomes a form of"basic trust"— capable of providing security and simplifying life, for those who are open to it. Faith and religiosity can, however, also become problematic — for example, when they were conveyed to a child not appropriately but through coercion and pressure. In such cases, faith becomes an unwelcomeintrojectthat festers within a person like a thorn in the flesh, impossible to integrate, because conflicts with the religious belief system have arisen — and persist — throughout the individual's personal life history. Because religion tends to say"You shall,"many people today prefer to speak of spirituality — where the tone is far less prescriptive:"You may."
The Dizziness of Freedom
We all carry within us a tension between two conflicting needs. On the one hand, there is the desire for autonomy, freedom, independence, self-affirmation and self-realisation. On the other, there is the need for security — for being held within a meaningful larger whole, in which we can trustingly let ourselves go. The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard called this inner conflict the"dizziness of freedom."
Faith vs. Belief
The German wordGlaubeis rendered in English by two very different terms. A distinction is drawn betweenfaithandbelief.Faithrefers to trust in God in the sense of a general, foundational and formative force of human existence — a kind of"basic trust"that is identically present across all longer-established religions, in all cultures and at all times. When one succeeds in keeping this undogmatic dimension of religion in view, faith can be genuinely healing.
Belief, by contrast, refers to the specific doctrinal content and propositions of individual religions. These are highly shaped by culture and by the spirit of the age in which they arose — and are more or less meaningful. It is precisely here that different religions diverge radically from one another, providing the backdrop for countless religious conflicts and wars, all following the same logic:"Only we possess the true faith, and we must convert you — by fire, sword and force if necessary."
"All religions appear divine to the ignorant, useful to politicians, and ridiculous to philosophers."— Lucretius (98–55 BC, Roman poet)
The Janus-Faced Nature of Religion
This is also where the Janus-faced nature of religions throughout history becomes apparent: all cultures had their religion, which they typically regarded as the one true and eternally valid faith — until new gods arrived. The dogmas of many religions are thus deeply shaped by the culture and spirit of the age in which they emerged, and are filled with meaningless doctrines and rules.
"God is the only being who, in order to reign, does not even need to exist."— Charles Baudelaire
It is no coincidence that the atheistically oriented Giordano Bruno Foundation (GBS) asks:"Do you still believe — or do you already know?"and calls for people to"think for themselves rather than pray along."But what can we really know with certainty? Must we learn to stand trustingly with both feet firmly planted in mid-air?
"Religions are like glowworms: they need darkness in order to shine."— Arthur Schopenhauer
Conclusion
Believe those who are searching for the truth — not those who claim to have already found it.
A more differentiated exploration of this topic can be found in Werner Gross's book"Call It God If You Like: The Sense and Nonsense of Religion and Religiosity"(Springer-Verlag).
Between Religious Simplicity and Scientific Diversity
While the ability to believe and to trust can indeed be a gift, it is often doubt that moves us forward.
"The small truth has many words. The great truth has only silence."
Reflections and Quotations
Charitably understood, the core impulse of most religions is to offer hope and to cultivate basic trust — and their ethical principles are generally sound, even if their translation into social reality is only partially successful. The transitions between hope and illusion are, unfortunately, all too fluid.
Paternalistic care
One can never truly know what one does not know.
The Personal Dimension: Individual Religiosity
Religiosity refers primarily to the highly individual experience and practice of faith within a given religion — placing its emphasis on the intrapsychic processing of the external belief system, or what takes place on the"inner stage."This form is also known asintrinsic religiosity.
"You are closer to God when you ask a question than when you give an answer."
Jewish wisdom
