Can faith and reason coexist? Is faith rational?

I guess. No, wait. I should probably ask what you mean by faith first ("rational" can be tricky as well, what with philosophers throwing it all over the place, who knows what it means)

Traditionally, a thread such as this will start a big dingdong battle about what "faith" means. OK I'll start - it just means believing stuff without having evidence.

twistor59 wrote:Traditionally, a thread such as this will start a big dingdong battle about what "faith" means. OK I'll start - it just means believing stuff without having evidence.

You are absolutely right (about such a thread starting a big definitions battle ), for faith is not "believing stuff without having evidence," but having trust in x; and whether one has trust in x is independent from whether one has reason to do so - some people do, some people don't.

RichieDickins wrote:

twistor59 wrote:Traditionally, a thread such as this will start a big dingdong battle about what "faith" means. OK I'll start - it just means believing stuff without having evidence.

You are absolutely right (about such a thread starting a big definitions battle ), for faith is not "believing stuff without having evidence," but having trust in x; and whether one has trust in x is independent from whether one has reason to do so - some people do, some people don't.

But if I use your definition, I can't refer to someone disparagingly as a "faith-head", so that can't be right...

twistor59 wrote:

RichieDickins wrote:

twistor59 wrote:Traditionally, a thread such as this will start a big dingdong battle about what "faith" means. OK I'll start - it just means believing stuff without having evidence.

You are absolutely right (about such a thread starting a big definitions battle ), for faith is not "believing stuff without having evidence," but having trust in x; and whether one has trust in x is independent from whether one has reason to do so - some people do, some people don't.

But if I use your definition, I can't refer to someone disparagingly as a "faith-head", so that can't be right...

Crap. I stand refuted

In short, no. Faith is anathema to reason.