Conclusion
Summary
In the Introduction I gave a couple of examples of how the word “faith” is sometimes indispensable in describing a defiantly hopeful secular attitude. Let me give another. Imagine that two races have coexisted on an island for centuries, one enslaving the other. Eventually the idea emerges that this is wrong, that all should be equal. But this theoretical insight is not so easily put into practice. For the dominant race is deeply used to its superiority. For centuries it has owned civilization; the other race, known as the under-race, seems relatively barbaric. And here is the crucial point: the evidence seems to support this. When the under-race is granted some freedom it tends to go badly; they sometimes even revert to cannibalism. The evidence suggests that the under-race is made for subservience. If the old order ends, the evidence suggests that civilization will be overrun by barbarism. Similarly, leaders of the under-race are divided: peaceful co-existence will not work, say some, for the oppressing race is not capable of seeing us as equals. They have always treated us as animals, and so we shall never be happy living among them. We must keep separate, fight them for the land. Again, the pessimistic view seems supported by the evidence, by centuries of it.
How can the island move to a just new order? Only by a leap of imagination on both sides that puts a positive ideal before all the negative evidence. Even once the new constitution is written, there is still a need for faith if the two races are to integrate, to create a viable society. For the centuries of mutual suspicion have not been magicked away; pessimism and suspicion will feel like realism.
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- Faith , pp. 126 - 130Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2009