I wish to follow my previous piece on epistemology with a related one. 

There is probably nothing more central to the way we view reality than the role faith and reason play. One’s viewpoint and decision regarding this matter determines almost completely how they will decide the critical issues in their life, personally, socially and politically. 

‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’

Consider that for moment. Evidence without evidence is essentially what is being said. Believing something without evidence. That is faith. When I point out this obvious truth people of faith often claim that i have faith as well. They cites such things as my expectation that water will come out of the tap when I turn the faucet or that the lights will come on when i flip the switch.

No faith is required for me to believe those things. That is because I have a history of observations regarding the outcomes of those actions.

Since that is the case, it is reasonable for me to believe what will happen, and I am surprised when it does not as i was the other day when I turned the faucet and no water came out. The water had been turned off in order to make some repairs to the water main.

Reason operates on the basis of sensory observation and logic. The senses observe something and we use logic to understand what that something means.