Good Faith

Beliefs have consequences. Our beliefs about life's "big questions"--Who am I? How should I act? What's my purpose for living?--impact our lives and the lives of people around us. Our answers should take into account scientific explanations of our world and our species, but answers to existential questions are matters of values, not empirical facts. Our answers are the lenses through which we observe and make sense of ourselves and our experiences, lenses developed from attitudes and assumptions absorbed from parents, friends, and cultures, and also from religions and secular ideologies. We have choices, and the lenses we choose to wear shape our day-to-day decisions and interactions. Good Faith examines the choices--various answers with their embedded assumptions and values--and assesses the likely results if people lived according to those answers. Flourishing is the criterion. Do our answers enhance or diminish well-being, for ourselves, our communities, and all humanity?