Is Faith Just Pretending?

I've often heard the saying “Faith is pretending to know something you don’t know.” I think that’s an interesting way to define faith, however I don't believe this statement aims to define it.

This statement is meant to mock it.

The intended message here is clear: It's irrational. It's intellectually lazy. Faith is silly. Just wishful thinking.

But let's set that aside for a moment, take the definition at face value, and define a few terms. Doing a quick Google search, we find the following:

Pretending: speak and act so as to make it appear that something is the case when in fact it is not.

I don’t have a problem with this definition, however I have a problem with his use of the word in his assertion. His statement assumes both that there is, in fact, no God, and that the person pretending knows there is no God and is speaking/acting otherwise.

First, most atheists would say that we don’t know there is no God (in that we can’t prove that there isn’t). Second, people of faith clearly don’t fit this definition because they are not acting contrary to what they “know.” If they “knew” God didn’t exist, they wouldn’t have faith.

The use of the word “pretending” fails here, as does the claim. Faith is not pretending by the above definition.

What is it then? Let check back with Google.

Faith: strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.

Here’s where the internet might get us into trouble (I know, right?) – unfortunately, this definition uses the phrase “based on spiritual apprehension.” This is incomplete and misleading in that it suggests that we develop faith by NOT thinking critically, that we gain it by some kind of "spiritual intuition."

The above is much more in line with this definition of blind faith:

Blind faith: belief without true understanding, perception, or discrimination

In truth, the statement "faith is pretending to know something you don’t know" treats all faith as blind faith.

Sure, many people do have blind faith. But this is not the history of faith.

Throughout human history, philosophers and theologians have wrestled with the question of the existence of God. They have written about and debated this topic for many thousands of years. They have developed arguments and counter-arguments and have contributed to a great body of work.

Similarly, our faith is not blind if we’ve investigated and tested it and questioned our beliefs - finding sound arguments and good reasons to believe that God exists, or at least that it's a rational belief.

Faith, at its best, does not replace reason, but builds upon it. It's rational and it's intellectually sturdy. It's withstood centuries of challenges.

I think it withstands this one, too.