The Crisis of Faith

About the Book

Reason is an integral part of the human experience. We use it to help us understand the world we live in. Before science, was able to blossom, early man was superstitious and fearful of the world he lived in. To deal with this, he created a pantheon of gods to account for everything he did not understand, such as movements of the sun and weather. As scientific knowledge grew in physics, astronomy, medicine, and chemistry, fact replaced fiction. Well, for the most part. There are still questions even today, with our immense library of scientific knowledge, we cannot answer. Hence the superstitious nature of early religious beliefs changed to address these larger, philosophical questions. For example, we had a better understanding of how the world worked but still did not understand what our place was in it. Many religions claim humanity stands separate of the rest of creation as its crowning achievement, destined to be stewards over it. Such bold claims really are not all that surprising considering no other organism is comparable to us in terms of emotional repertoire, creation of civilization, and use of the faculty of reason. It is almost our responsibility as self-described higher organisms to have dominion over those we deem to be lower organisms. Such pompous statements have no real basis in reason though.

Furthermore, religion tries to understand the universe in the context of a deity. Through it, answers are provided to questions such as whether or not a soul exists, what the origin of evil, what happens after we die, how best we should live our lives, and whether or not we are free to act as we choose or are under the control of a deterministic force. The problem is that religion’s entire belief system hinges on the existence of this deity which will be shown to fail a test of logic. This is the crisis of faith.

The book will be broken up into three main sections. In the first part of Section 1, I will make a distinction between three contexts of the word philosophy. This is important because Philosophy is a discipline based on the stringent principles of Logic whereas individual and societal philosophies (worldviews), of which religion falls under the latter, are not required to conform to such rules. They speak of being rational, but as with stereotypes, they are not.

In Chapter 2 I will provide a definition of religion and elaborate upon six key components that make it up. These include knowledge, emotions, ethical, meaning and purpose, social, and psychological components/functions. Also, I will show how each of these are manifested in religion through such things as branches and divisions, significant leaders, ritual, tools, etc.

Section 2 will be the primary focus of the book and will systematically address seven key issues in the philosophy of religion after giving a very brief overview of what logic is. The questions include: 1) Epistemology which is the debate over the source of knowledge, 2) a discussion of God and the arguments for and against His existence, 3) a look at the universe we live in focusing on where it came from and what man’s place is in it, 4) the controversial and still unanswered question of the origin of evil and suffering, 5) the heated debate over whether we are free to act as we choose or subject to fate, 6) what happens at death which discusses the existence of a soul, and 7) an attempt to address the question of how best to live our lives, called Ethics.

Section 3 is important because the arguments made prior are then aimed specifically at Christian writers Schmidt and Perkins; McDowell; Sproul; and Geisler and Feinberg. The effort is to debate new arguments not previously addressed in the book and to expand upon ideas already put forth. These authors and their books were selected based on their importance in the religious community. All the authors are practicing Christians but the arguments which are addressed generally apply to all

About the Author

Born October 22, 1975 in Baltimore, MD, Lee Daffin is father to a vibrant five-year old named Alec and husband of six years to a rising poet and short story writer, Heather. In the fall of 2002, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and by Summer 2005 will complete a Master’s degree in Experimental Psychology from Towson University located in Towson, MD. He hopes to translate his love of writing and passion for science into a faculty position at a prestigious university where he may stimluate the minds of future scholars.