Unamuno

I found the readings to be very interesting. It may be because the emphasis they are putting on faith and religion. Considering that I am a catholic I feel as if I can better understand these readings opposed to some of the previous readings that didn’t emphasize Christianity and faith very much.

Unamuno talks about the dogma and how it is regarded as undeniably true. What he means in his remarks about dogma and the incontrovertible remarks made by the church are not necessarily true. However, people feel pressured into believing these remarks and base the morals off of them. Unamuno believes that since there is not much truth involved in this practice that the faith can easily be ruined.

I think what he means is that what we know and don’t know can effect what we believe in. If we know that something is fact but our faith tells us different we refute the faith and seek out something else to put our faith into so that we can base our morals of something. On the other hand if our faith tells us something that is true but we know it is not then we might feel betrayed by our faith which would also cause us to seek out something else to believe in and base morals off of that. When we feel betrayed by our faith we not only seek out a new belief system but our morals may also change because we can no longer trust them because of the way we created them. To sum up what I am trying to say is that if our faith falls apart so do our morals, because our morals are based off of our faith. If we choose a different belief then we are also choosing a different set of morals.

I am lead to question whether Unamuno thinks that we are capable of making good actions even if we deny our religious faith and the morals that go with it. I believe that he thinks we can. He says that though an individual may refute his religious faith he still has his faith towards mankind. Just because someone may not be religious does not mean that they aren’t capable of having good intentions.

There are plenty of religious people that do horrible things as well as there are non-religious people who amount to great things. I agree that I think it is mans faith in humanity and not just his religious faith that allows him to do good things. After all it there are cases when people to incredibly horrible things because of the poor morals they took from their religion. That being said I think that individuals who have a strong religious faith tend to have great morals and go onto do great things. The lessons taught in the bible teach us to treat everyone and everything with love and respect. Even if someone were to refute their faith in religion based on some of its false truths, they would still hold onto the lessons of love and respect and implement them into their morals and faith in humanity.

Unamuno and I agree that people who have faith regardless of the conflicting ideas will earn an afterlife. I strongly believe that is our faith that causes us to act morally and kind towards others. There are times when I doubt my faith and leans towards the ideas of reason and science, but then I compare the lessons I have learned from the two. Science and reason haven’t taught me how to act but only to respond. I think that faith teaches me how to act and prepare for my actions. Constantly wrestling with the two sides is just human nature. I think that having something to believe in is a vital element of human life, because if we don’t then what’s the point? I conclude by reiterating my comment about those who have faith deserve an afterlife; because why should someone who refused in believing an afterlife all their lives be accepted into that afterlife when the time comes. They will only continue to practice their beliefs in science, reason, and rationality because they now know what faith entails and therefore continue to disapprove of it.