"I run several areas of my life by faith alone. My relationships with other human beings, for instance."

I think that depends on how "faith" is defined.

"Let's say my boyfriend makes a snide remark that hurts my feelings. Do I break up with him? The most reasonable among us would say "No how ridiculous." I have faith that the snide remark was unintentional, or that he loves me anyway, or that he would not do again, so I stay with him on the basis of faith."

But not solely on the basis of faith. In fact, faith is but a small part of why you stay with him.

He became your boyfriend, and stays your boyfriend, because snide remarks that hurt your feelings are the exception, while kind remarks that help you feel good are the rule.

"Reason says he's already done it, so the likelihood of him doing it again is higher."

But not guaranteed. And if you let him know that his remark hurt your feelings, the likelihood of his doing it again may be *lower*, because he now realizes the damage his remark did.

OTOH, there are probably things he could do that would cause you to dump him even if he did them only once and promised never ever to do again.

"Reason also says I cannot read his mind, so I do not know if he REALLY loves me or REALLY meant the snide remark. But I have faith in my own convictions-things I cannot PROVE to be true, but I HOPE to be true."

But faith is not all you have. You have the evidence of his behavior, which is really a form of inductive reasoning.

Suppose you tell him that his remark hurt your feelings and he says he didn't mean it the way you took it, he's sorry, and he'll be more careful in the future. And suppose he really *is* more careful in the future. That's all evidence supporting the rational mental process that says he loves you.

OTOH, suppose you tell him that his remark hurt your feelings and he says he *did* mean it that way, and you shouldn't be so sensitive. And suppose he makes more snide remarks in the future, despite your repeated requests not to. That's all evidence supporting the rational mental process that says he doesn't love you. At least not the way you want to be loved. And it would be reasonable for you to break up with him if/when he's given you enough evidence that his former behavior of kind remarks has been replaced by a new behavior of snide, hurtful remarks.

"So no, faith in God is not based on reason."

It can be. A person can look at the evidence (not just some book written thousands of years ago, but on personal experience and evidence) and say that there is evidence enough *for them* to believe in God.

But that's the easy part. How each person defines God is a much more complex question.

"That is why, as a believer, you must always be extremely careful. It is easy to let faith into areas of your life where reason should rule. I have faith in the good of humanity, but having BLIND faith will lead me into a bad part of town all alone on a dark night. Have faith-do not have BLIND faith. Question your pastor. Question yourself. Question your spiritual beliefs, which could (and in my opinion, should) both reinforce and contridict your reasonable beliefs."

What I'm reading is that spirituality is really an ongoing experiment, just like science, not a fixed and immutable thing. If I understand you correctly, you're saying that there is no area which is off-limits to question and re-definition based on evidence and rationality. Just like science!

"I cannot live my life based on hard reason, no more than I can live my life based on blind faith."

Not sure what you mean by "hard reason", but in fact you do seem to be living your life based on rationality rather than blind faith. By the simple exercise of refusing blind faith, you accept reason and evidence as The Way.

"I must find my own path to whatever I believe is the truth, and question myself every step of the way. This is hard; this is complicated."

I agree that it is hard, but not that it is complicated. Your basic rule of questioning rather than blind faith is the foundation of reason and all science.

'Sometimes the question is more important than the answer'.

"Check your faith with reason; soften your reason with faith."

I agree with the first part, but not the second. True reason does not need to be "softened", because true reason includes its limits.

Reason will tell you not to dump your boyfriend because of a few snide remarks. Reason will also tell you *to* dump your boyfriend because of too many snide remarks.

But exactly where the line is drawn between "a few" and "too many", reason can't tell you.

I follow a great philospher who once said, "I don't care what you believe. Just believe."

I don't care what others believe until it begins to affect me. Equating a religious agenda with science affects me.

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I am surprised that, so far, I haven't seen any mention of the Babelfish and its use in the alleged proof of the non-existance of God. Nor John Lennon's "Imagine".

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All Christians do not believe the same things; indeed, much of Christian history consists of different flavors of Christian threatening, fighting with or killing each other over the differences. Northern Ireland, anyone?