Professor Matt McCormick's Definition of Faith

I've been discussing the reasonableness of faith lately ending here. Having read through the uncorrected advance reading copy of Dr. Matt McCormick's book, Atheism and the Case Against Christ, he has a chapter on faith that agrees with me (or should I say I agree with him).

First let me share my blurb for his book:
Finally, a first rate philosopher weighs in and utterly demolishes any hope reasonable people have for believing Jesus was resurrected from the grave. Masterfully he goes on to argue why atheism follows “from the ground up” based on cognitive bias studies, religious diversity, the lack of compelling evidence, divine hiddenness, the problem of miracles, and the failure of faith. No other book presents a better case. Nothing more needs to be said.
Now on to chapter 11, "The 'F' Word," where I've gathered the essential quotes:
-To take something on faith or to believe by faith is to believe it despite contrary or inadequate evidence. It is to believe anyway when there's not enough support from evidence and reason to clear the way.

-The overcoming of doubts or counter-evidence is the essential feature of faith.

-If someone's reaction to my arguments against the resurrection and other religious beliefs is that she has faith, then she is conceding the central point. In effect, she is acknowledging that in order to believe those religious doctrines, one must ignore the inefficiencies in the evidence and believe anyway.

-If there is sufficient evidence to justify the conclusion, then faith isn't needed. So to suggest that faith and evidence jointly justify is acknowledging that the evidence by itself isn't enough, and I will ignore that gap and believe anyway.

-In fact, the need to invoke faith to bridge the gap affirms the inadequacy of the evidence.

-In effect, the faith response amounts to, "I'm going to believe anyway, despite those objections." That's just dogmatic irrationality, not a serious consideration that the critic must give some further objection to.
To see McCormick's thesis in a single chapter you can read it now in my anthology, The End of Christianity. If you haven't gotten it yet do so just for his chapter alone.

There is a Reader's Choice Award Poll for best atheist book of 2011. I'd appreciate your vote today for The End of Christianity. The way the rules are set up you can vote once a day until March 22nd.

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