Recent thoughts on Faith vs. Disbelief & Acceptance vs. Non-acceptance

theory
#1

In addition to the main story I’m working on about a scientist (which I’ve mentioned before), I’m also playing with an idea for a different story about a Christian preacher. The whole science vs. religion thing wasn’t intentional. That’s just what is coming to my imagination.

Since I was thinking about religion as the basis for a story, naturally I wanted to dive into Dramatica’s Faith & Disbelief elements… and I discovered something interesting (at least to me).

The story I’m envisioning involves a preacher and an atheist. I haven’t worked out the details just yet, but by the end of the story, I want the atheist to become a Christian.

While I was looking at Faith vs. Disbelief, I realized that Disbelief isn’t what my atheist character is all about. The true definition of an atheist is someone who doesn’t believe in God… and not someone who believes that God doesn’t exist. A caveat (there ARE atheists who believe there is no God, but the default position is simply not believing the claims of Christians).

Dramatica’s Disbelief is defined as the belief that something is untrue (i. e. there is no God). But what I’ve discovered is that Non-acceptance is where a “default position” atheist would be centered, rather than on Disbelief.

So my little epiphany in this matter has helped me to clarify the differences between Faith/Disbelief and Acceptance/Non-acceptance.

This distinction might help others working on stories where religion plays a role. I feel that the appropriate element for a priest is Faith, while the appropriate element for a non-believer is Non-acceptance rather than disbelief, so long as the non-believer isn’t making a positive assertion that God doesn’t exist. If he does, then he’d be better suited to Disbelief.

#2

A couple of things to keep in mind: 1) Faith/Disbelief doesn’t necessarily have to be constrained to religion. 2.) There’s no clear cut dichotomy; there are degrees and/or whether you choose to explore the lack of one vs its presence. An example of this would be in The Exorcist when Father Damian Karras’s problem is actually disbelief and the solution in faith. 3.) Acceptance/Non-Acceptance is more of without opposition/opposition. Faith is more about accepting something without proof whereas disbelief is absolute certainty something doesn’t exist. While some would argue it’s clear-cut (for example, Conrad in Ordinary People posits that you either believe in God or you don’t, that it’s not a question of to what degree, but with regards to faith, I think you’ll find there are degrees that exist - otherwise characters would (or wouldn’t) make any movement on the scale so to speak and the story wouldn’t exist.

#3

@JBarker Absolutely. It wasn’t my intention to suggest that Faith/Disbelief be constrained to issues of religion. I was just describing my thought process considering a story that does deal with religion. :slight_smile:

#4

Disbelief: the belief that something is untrue

Faith: accepting something as certain without proof

how about this?
faith that the Christian way is the right and true way.
disbelief—> The Christian way is untrue.

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