Q: “what about people who do not believe everything of a religion, people who only choose to agree with parts of a religion? Do they have faith in that religion?”
I think that your question is a good one because I know many people, including myself, who believe in only parts of a religion. I do not think that a person would have faith in their entire religion if they did not believe in every part of the religion; the person would not have faith in that exact religion, but they would have faith in their own version of that religion. With that said, I do not think I fully agree with the idea of having faith in a certain religion. If someone asked me if I had faith in my religion, I would probably say that I had faith in God, and not necessarily my religion. The religion is a part of me, but I do not really have faith in the religion itself; sometimes I feel like people become so controlled by religious principles that they forget about what their religion is based around: the existence of God. Even though I do not fully agree with the idea of having faith in a religion, I would probably say that I do have faith in my religion, but my true faith is in God.
I was brought up as a Christian, and I have not lost my faith in that religion. With that said, I do not fully agree with all of the values that Christianity represents. Specifically, I do not agree with the very strict nature that some Christians have in regards to other Christians not following every specific rule; I feel like Christians use the idea of heaven and hell to force people to follow every type of specific rule. The point I am trying to make is that I believe in my own version of Christianity; if I were to say that I have faith in my religion, I would be saying that I have faith in my own version of Christianity. This leads to idea of whether a person is still supporting a certain religion if they do not agree with every idea of that religion. If I do not agree with every part of Christianity, then I am wondering if I can still call myself Christian.
I think the question of whether I can be a labeled a Christian is an important one, and I have my own idea of what the answer is. I think that this type of question would have to be answered on a case-by-case basis; this means that there is no solid answer of whether someone should be considered a Christian or something else. To find the answer, I would have to look at what parts of the religion that a person does not agree with. For example, I do not think that people who do not believe in God should call themselves Christian. With that said, I guess they could say that they are supporting their own version of Christianity; this is a very difficult question, and we briefly discussed this in class earlier in the semester.
Again, as far as your question specifically, I think that people generally have faith in God, more so then they do in their religion. In addition, I think that people who only agree with parts of a religion have faith in their own version of that religion and not that specific religion. Most importantly, I think your question leads to the significant question of whether a person is right to say that they believe in a certain religion if they do not agree with every part of that religion.
Can someone still call themselves Christian (or some other religious label) if they do not believe in every part of the religion? Explain.
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