I certainly would not be surprised if I ask a young or even a mature Catholic Christian some salient questions about his or her faith and in the process he or she gives an answer by simply saying: Hmmm, I really do not care, I believe such because that is what the Church teaches anyway or well, the pastor or priest said so and that is all. Over the years, many persons have had no choice but to quit going to Church because they claim not to understand any bit of what is being done in the Church.

Come to think of it, the various ills that come up as a result of our ardent adherence to faith and the search for instant responses occur because of our lack of proper application of reason. So many videos that are seen online and the many unimaginable things we see people do all in the name of religion leaves one wondering whether man has thrown away his sense of reasoning. Most times, what happens is that some certain set of people have taken advantage of the fact that the victim left out reason in his/her pursuits of faith or perhaps the people just repose great trust in the servant of God.

Many have quite wrong notion/perception of faith as just a habitual recitation of the Creed and nothing more. Hence, going to Church is simply a duty to persons of this category. Faith to this category of believers is all about miracles, the experiences of Jn. 6:25-26 would actually explains this further; a personal aspect of life; learning and reciting prayers daily; fulfilling one’s duty to attend Church; a remedy for soothing pain and suffering; a mystery incomprehensible. I beg to state at this juncture that the major factor that breeds this misconceived idea of faith is that which sees it as a mystery which is unfathomable.

We should actually note that faith as it were, features in all facets of life and has a great impact on the past, the present as well as the future of humanity. It is thus important to possess a right understanding of faith, as that different from belief, morality, emotions and  religiosity. This is where reason comes into play, which as it were is the sole purpose of theology-faith seeking understanding. This is an attempt to checkmate fideism and rationalism, the two extremes believes of the Western and the African worlds.

Some persons find it difficult conceiving any possible avenue of connection between faith and reason, for it has definitely been a subject of discussion through many ages. This relationship is expected since man seeks to know and find answers to questions about life’s meaning and the purpose of his existence. In fact, no one desires to be deceived, hence, the need for reason. It is no gainsaying that reason as a concept is not an end in itself, it is a means to an end, so also is faith and they both coincidentally have truth as their end, and thus faith and reason are means to attaining the end (Truth), although distinct, they are not in any way contradictory.

And so, St. Thomas Aquinas in addressing this issue of the relationship between the two, stated that there are points where faith does not delve into the realm of reason and vice versa but there are points where they both meet which he calls Natural Theology.

Complementing this in His Fides et Ratio, Pope John Paul II discloses that faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth (No. 1). In fact, Pope Benedict XVI continues to re-echo John Paul II in Instrumentus Laboris No. 154 when he says “Faith widens the horizons of reason and reason preserves faith from the danger of drifting aimlessly or manipulating religion.” It is thus necessary that both complement each other as partners and not rivals. ‘God does not expect us to submit our faith to Him without reason, but the very limit of reason makes faith a necessity’ says St. Augustine. The famous French Mathematician and Philosopher, Blaise Pascal equally had something to say about this; “reason’s last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things that go beyond it, and the heart has its reasons, which reason knows not.” Hence, science and religions, philosophy and theology should seek complementarities since “science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind”- Albert Einstein. Science deals with the how and religion deals with the why and so reason should be an instrument used in the right order.

In as much as faith is essential and we desire the knowledge of truth, our reason should not be put to relegation because it should accompany our faith in the search. Many of the disasters and an unpleasant stories that flock the pages of the social and print media which revolves round religion could have been avoided if the victims had possibly been reasonable enough in their faith.

In fact, being witnesses goes beyond recitation of the Creed, there is the need to know what we actually profess by applying some level of reason. There should be some personal conviction about what we believe and profess and not accepting such just because the Church says so or because we were born into it and therefore see it as an obligation even at the expense of our personal conviction and development.