Berkley Center

At its base, faith means for one to be fully committed to an idea or set of ideals. When the phrase “person of faith” is used, it conjures up images of people standing on street corners fighting for your soul, images of slow marches led by peaceful and proud figures, images of solidarity and often images of passionate debate. Whether positive or negative, mass turnout or singular meditation, having faith connotes confronting the eternal, having an opinion and testifying to one’s belief. This is why faith is the only sure foundation for values in personal and public life. If one does not care enough to form an opinion by which to live by, if one does not think about confronting the eternal, one cannot be expected to be able to form solid values in one’s life. In addition, if one is willing to have faith it means they are also willing to stand by their faith in the face of opposition. This quality is essential to having other values as well.

To clarify, faith is not necessarily religion. For example, atheism is a faith in that it believes that there is no God and rejects the eternal. But, by rejecting the eternal it thus means that Atheism confronts the eternal. Confrontation of the eternal is a theme throughout human history. It is only natural for humans to wonder about the life’s end. Yet if one does not do this, if one does not have faith, it implies apathy on one’s part. One who does not try to think about the larger questions in life, to look beyond their own existence, clearly does not have investment in whatever they do. How can they care about their lives if they do not think about their long-term trajectory, that is, the end of their lives?

When one has faith they not only confront the eternal but also are willing to take a stand for what is important to them. This is a foundational element for the creation of values in one’s life. Being willing to defend a central part of one’s life, faith, suggests that one is also going to stand by their other values. Whether or not a person has similar values to another does not matter as long as they are willing to be true to their own person and to defend their values.