Worldviews of Faith

People can look at the question of faith from different points of view. Describe what is involved in each of the following points of view:

Fundamentalism/Individualism

• Fundamentalism is the view that the sacred text is a factual account to be taken literally.
• Fundamentalists take sacred texts literally and believe everything they contain.
• Individualism is the moral stance, political outlook that emphasizes the moral worth of the individual.
• Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and value independence.

Outline what is involved in one of the ways of looking at the world (materialism/secularism) and describe an example of how it can be seen in society today.

Materialism

• Materialists claim that the only real things are material things.
• Something is real if we can see, touch, hear, taste or smell it.
• Materialists believe that the spiritual nature of human beings is not real.
• Their outlook is very persuasive and they claim that the scientific way of looking at things is the only way.
• Materialists nowadays believe that accumulating money, possessions and material things in life is the only important thing.

Describe what is meant by each of the terms listed: Atheism and Agnosticism

• Atheism refers to the belief that God does not exist.
• Atheists believe that there is no God, no angels, no afterlife and no heaven.
• Atheists believe in the scientific view of life and creation.
• Atheists believe that death is the end to life.
• Agnosticism is the belief that there is not enough evidence to know for certain whether or not God exists.
• There is not enough evidence to prove it one way or another.
• No one can say for definite that there is a God or there is no God.

Explain how the religious belief of a person could be challenged by either atheism or agnosticism.

• Atheism completely denies the existence of God.
• Religious belief is dependent on faith.
• Atheists believe that faith is not enough to prove the existence of God.
• Atheists deny the existence of something that is the most important thing in somebody's life.
• This may pose a challenge to a person of faith.

Describe one way in which humanism could challenge religious beliefs.

• Humanism is the belief system that rejects religion and makes sense of life through human reason alone.
• Humanism could challenge a person's religious belief because the religious ideas are rejected in favour of making sense of life through the power of human reason alone.
• A humanist is a person who believes that life on Earth is the only reality.
• There is no God or Gods or any power greater than the human person.
• Humanists do not turn to God or religion for answers to life's big questions.
• Humanists believe reason and human experience alone is sufficient.
• Humanists say God is not involved in human life.
• Humans are born from nature.
• Humanists say there is nothing after death which is the end of life.
• Guidelines for behaviours come from human experience.