>Simon Says:
>>Belief isn't the same thing as imagination, or
>>supposing something to be so. A believer _knows_
>>that their beliefs >are true. They have faith.
>Is the modern concept of faith applicable in a Gloranthan sense? Nowadays, it
>means "There's no evidence, but I believe it anyway", and the atheist (eg. me,
>I swing between atheist and agnostic these days) would say that faith is an
>invention to keep people loyal to a non-existent fantasy. In Glorantha,
>however, this kind of faith is unnecessary.
I mean faith in the sense of personal conviction and trust in one's beliefs, whatever the reasons for that might be - whether it's logical proof, physical evidence, personal religious experience, or simply an inability to imagine or understand anything else.
The phrase "I believe Tom went to the shops to buy some crisps" is using the term 'believe' in a very different way to the phrase "I believe in god".
I think many, if not most people with deeply held religious convictions feel that they do have evidence for their beliefs, but it may not be objective evidence in the scientific sense. It's still very real to them, and the same goes for most Gloranthans.
What do you mean by 'this kind of faith'? Gloranthans have effective magic that they believe comes from their god(s), but they also know that their enemies also have effective magic. Therefore having effective magic is not sufficient proof that a god is worthy of being worshiped. That's realy a moral question.
Simon Hibbs
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