宗教信仰給人類社會帶來的負面影響要遠大於其正面影響嗎？

西羅馬帝國被北方蠻族侵略亡國後，歐洲大陸教會獨大，給歐洲帶來過十個世紀長的黑暗時期，直到十四世紀文藝復興，重新發現人的價值，擺脫宗教束縛後，西方才強大興盛起來；中國魏晉南北朝，士大夫講究清談，整日討論道教玄學，這個時期政權更迭頻道，兵荒馬亂，生靈塗炭，是中國封建時期最黑暗的時代；宗教大國印度，頻繁受到異族侵略，幾乎都是沒有還手之力。伊斯蘭教卻是個異類，伊斯蘭教鼎盛時期，是阿拉伯民族最強大的時期，帝國國土西至西班牙，東至中國，科技文化發達，然而在現代，你懂的，而且極度男權，女人幾乎是男性的附庸品，給女性帶來了很大的傷害。

這樣分析似乎宗教信仰實際給社會帶來的負面影響是遠遠大於其正面的，然而現在輿論卻常常藉此批判中國人缺乏信仰？其意欲何為？

• 宗教體現了人類的三種本能：恐懼、傲慢與仇恨。或者說，宗教讓這三種情感披上聖潔的外衣，通過某些渠道得以發泄。總的看來，這些情感給人類帶來了苦難，使人們在發泄這些本來可以得到控制的情感時，無所畏忌，可見宗教是一股邪惡勢力。

• …宗教卻嚴重阻礙著這類知識的應用。宗教使孩子們得不到理性的教育，宗教使我們無法消除戰爭的根源，宗教使我們無法用科學性合作的倫理來替代罪與罰的野蠻教條。也許人類已經走到了黃金時代的門前，但果真如此的話，我們首先要剷除守門的惡龍，而這條惡龍就是宗教。

宗教體現了人類的三種本能：恐懼、傲慢與仇恨。或者說，宗教讓這三種情感披上聖潔的外衣，通過某些渠道得以發泄。

經典，不能更同意

• 沒有食物人類必定會死
• 沒有信仰人類未必會亡

對於生存來說，食物是必要條件，信仰或宗教信仰都不是必要條件。當然，信仰或者宗教是人類演化突變出大腦後，人類思維、行為和生存的副現象。雖難以避免，但遠非本質，是人類精神進化史上遺留在今日的盲腸，運氣不好就會發炎。

• 科學取代宗教
• 理性代替信仰

信仰（Faith）是指對一個人（同樣的對他的能力）、事物、神、宗教的教條或教導、沒有經驗證據的觀點（例如擁有強烈的政治信仰）抱有信心和信任。

Faith

『Faith』 is a broad term, appearing in locutions that
express a range of different concepts. At its most general
『faith』 means much the same as 『trust』. This
entry is specifically concerned, however, with the notion of
religious faith—or, rather (and this qualification is
important), the kind of faith exemplified in religious faith.
Philosophical accounts are almost exclusively about theistic
religious faith—faith in God—and they generally, though
not exclusively, deal with faith as understood within the Christian
branch of the Abrahamic traditions. But, although the theistic
religious context settles what kind of faith is of interest, the
question arises whether faith of that same general kind also
belongs to other, non-theistic, religious contexts, or to contexts not
usually thought of as religious at all. Arguably, it may be apt to
speak of the faith of a humanist, or even an atheist, using the same
general sense of 『faith』 as applies to the theist
case.

The present discussion focuses on theistic religious faith as a
paradigm of the kind of faith that is of interest, though the question
of faith outside this context is taken up in the final Section (11).
Philosophical reflection on theistic religious faith has produced
different accounts or models of its nature. This entry suggests that
there are several key components that may feature, with varying
emphases, in models of faith—in particular, the
affective, the cognitive, the evaluative
and the volitional or practical. It suggests also
that there is a variety of different principles according to which
models of faith may be categorized, including

• how the model relates faith as a state to the active components
  associated with faith;
• whether the model takes the object of faith to be exclusively
  propositional or not;
• the type of epistemology with which the model is associated—
  whether it is broadly 『evidentialist』 or
  『fideist』;
• whether the model is necessarily restricted to theistic religious
  faith, or may extend beyond it.

There is no single 『established』 terminology for different
models of faith. A brief initial characterisation of the principal
models of faith and their nomenclature as they feature in this
discussion may nevertheless be helpful—they are:

• the 『purely affective』 model: faith as a
  feeling of existential confidence
• the 『special knowledge』 model: faith as
  knowledge of specific truths, revealed by God
• the 『belief』 model: faith as belief
  that God exists
• the 『trust』 model: faith as believing
  in (in the sense of trusting in) God
• the 『doxastic venture』 model: faith as
  practical commitment beyond the evidence to ones belief that God
  exists
• 『sub-』 and 『non-doxastic venture』
  models: faith as practical commitment to a relevant positively
  evaluated truth-claim, yet without belief
• the 『hope』 model: faith as hoping—or
  acting in the hope that—the God who saves exists.

The entry proceeds dialectically, with later sections presupposing the
earlier discussion.

• 1. Models of faith and their key components
• 2. The affective component of faith
• 3. Faith as knowledge
• 4. Faith and reason: the epistemology of faith
• 5. Faith as belief
• 6. Faith as trust
• 7. Faith as doxastic venture
• 8. Faith as sub- or non-doxastic venture
• 9. Faith and hope
• 10. Faith as a virtue
• 11. Faith beyond (orthodox) theism
• Bibliography
• Academic Tools
• Other Internet Resources
• Related Entries