[quote name='alonzomourning23']And who's to say jesus, muhammed and a host of other religious figures would have failed that test? In fact they stood in opposition to many inconsistencies they thought existed in society.
Reason created god. Reason said that something must cause lightning, something must happen after death, something must cause dead people to appear in dreams etc. It's all reason, and it's all faith, as it cannot be proven. For example, buddhists believe in reincarnation, something which you cannot prove or disprove. Agreeing with that or not is a matter of faith, not science. The buddha was essentially saying don't believe in what I teach if it doesn't fit with your own way of thinking. The key word is "your", and you even used it yourself. What he said was logical to him, he used his own reason to arrive at those conclusions. That doesn't mean that the conclusion itself isn't faith.
If you cannot prove it, or provide obvious evidence to it, then it's a matter of faith. There's nothing you can do that could prove anything such as karma, nirvana, reincarnation etc. exist. The existence of those things is purely an issue of faith. You may find evidence that to you supports those things, but in the end it's faith. If you actually can prove one of those things then it's no longer faith.[/quote]
By your line of reasoning, every single belief that a person has is faith (faith in contemporary science, faith in religion, faith in nothing...), so there is no way for a human being's belief system to escape being labeled as faith (the only exception possibly being Descartes' very important apriori 'I think therefore I am')
When most modern Americans use the term 'faith', they mean a blind allegiance to the orthodox teachings of mainstream religion, regardless of whether these teachings clash with their inner voice of reason or serve to advance the common good. You use the word faith almost interchangably with belief, so I wanted to clarify it for the thread readers who have a more contemporary understanding of the word.
As for concepts such as reincarnation - why is it a given that they can't be proven or disproven? We already have near-worldwide consensus (scientific and religious) on the heliocentric solar system, and we're working the evolution angle (the usual suspects are still bringing up the rear).
My only point was, as the Buddha said, you shouldn't buy into any beliefs unless you come to the same conclusion by your own method of reasoning. It's not like the religion's ideology is setup to shunt you into the role of an meek obedient sheep (or a micromanaging rule-happy shepard).