faith

The word faith has various uses; its central meaning is similar to "belief", "trust" or "confidence", but unlike these terms, "faith" tends to imply transcending the personal rather than an interpersonal relationship – with God. The object of faith can be a person (or even an inanimate object or state of affairs) or a proposition (or body of propositions, such as a religious credo). In each case, however, faith is in an aspect of the object and cannot be logically proven or objectively known. Faith can also be defined as accepting as true something which one has been told by someone who is believed to be trustworthy. In its proper sense faith means trusting the word of another.

In religious contexts, "faith" has several different meanings. Sometimes, it means loyalty to one's religion. It is in this sense in which one can speak of, for example, "the Catholic faith" or "the Islamic faith." For denominational or doctrinal religions, faith also means that one accepts the religious tenets of the religion as true. For non-doctrinal or creed-oriented religions, often means that one is loyal to a particular religious community. In general, faith means being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see with your physical (as opposed to spiritual) eyes.

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