Essay Draft 
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Christian Kim, #9814
Mr. Valassidis
Honors World Literature, Period 5 9 December 2014 In a world where personal beliefs are flouted constantly on various social media platforms it is no wonder that conflicts between science and faith, reason and religion, rationality and belief are occurring quite frequently. In a day and age where “rational thought” is prioritized over the beliefs and values of the individual, society has become brainwashed into thinking that certain actions and beliefs are inferior to raw facts. Such a belief devalues ethnical, cultural, and religious beliefs. What is needed is essentially a gap, to show that aspects of rational thinking can coincide with faith. So the question must be asked; can faith and reason coexist? It is absolutely possible for rational thinking to be a part of faith, or more particularly religious faith. The only point in which faith is irrational, is the initial leap of faith one takes in order to make the decision. Besides this initial jump of blind faith, where one must fully trust a higher power without complete understanding, every decision after this seemingly irrational one, has the full capacity for rational thought.
Often times thoughts, beliefs, and actions are often labeled as rational or irrational, but what defines something as rational? Rationality is defined as a pursuit of answers through the use of logical discourse and objective criteria. What comes out of this pursuit is what humans tend to think is rational. Generally speaking, rationality is what is “best on the table”, its purpose is to provide or attempt to provide, answers to questions based on factual evidence and through the
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use of logical discourse and scientific advancements. With scientific advances, what is considered rational and irrational shifts as well. It is through new, changing evidence that alters rationality. This is why rationality changes throughout the course of time, it is because new
Christian Kim, #9814
Mr. Valassidis
Honors World Literature, Period 5 9 December 2014 In a world where personal beliefs are flouted constantly on various social media platforms it is no wonder that conflicts between science and faith, reason and religion, rationality and belief are occurring quite frequently. In a day and age where “rational thought” is prioritized over the beliefs and values of the individual, society has become brainwashed into thinking that certain actions and beliefs are inferior to raw facts. Such a belief devalues ethnical, cultural, and religious beliefs. What is needed is essentially a gap, to show that aspects of rational thinking can coincide with faith. So the question must be asked; can faith and reason coexist? It is absolutely possible for rational thinking to be a part of faith, or more particularly religious faith. The only point in which faith is irrational, is the initial leap of faith one takes in order to make the decision. Besides this initial jump of blind faith, where one must fully trust a higher power without complete understanding, every decision after this seemingly irrational one, has the full capacity for rational thought.
Often times thoughts, beliefs, and actions are often labeled as rational or irrational, but what defines something as rational? Rationality is defined as a pursuit of answers through the use of logical discourse and objective criteria. What comes out of this pursuit is what humans tend to think is rational. Generally speaking, rationality is what is “best on the table”, its purpose is to provide or attempt to provide, answers to questions based on factual evidence and through the
Kim 2
use of logical discourse and scientific advancements. With scientific advances, what is considered rational and irrational shifts as well. It is through new, changing evidence that alters rationality. This is why rationality changes throughout the course of time, it is because new