The most important puzzle piece of the human experience is the fundamental reliance on faith. The more an individual functions in a world-view, the more established is their faith in their presuppositions. This may be applied to scientists, Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The differences in faith have resulted in conflicts, Protestant versus Catholic, Muslim versus Christian, secular versus religious, and a whole variety of struggles built upon the sands of faith.
Reality and science are different. The world functions in reality; science is the observational interpretation of that reality. Expressly, science is the explanation and encompassment of unalterable laws that bind our world together. Science is a (single/one of many) projection of human language in subjective terms upon the real, unalterable laws of reality. It is an interpretation of reality, very much authentic and empirical but still only an interpretation.
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are the most prominent Abrahamic religions. Within each puzzle that characterizes the religious experience, faith is the most important. Without faith, the powerful logos of religion is obsolete. An atheist (and most deists) would agree. If one is to acknowledge that faith is the underlying sand of an otherwise weak house of logic, they must understand that it may also be applied to atheism. The final puzzle piece in the atheist experience is also faith; it is faith in the empirical reinterpretation of reality, an always drifting trace.
It is necessary to have faith, but remember that your faith is only faith. During the 1600s, the aggressive modernization of society needed an increasing number of people to take part in the modernization process in a more humble way. This eventually led to widespread education, democracy, toleration, and human rights. These ideals have become sacred in Western culture as a result of their fundamental support of a smooth-running society (little crime, little strife, efficiently utilizes resources, etc.). These principles of society are not strictly bad, but necessary in maintaining the hegemony of the West's social structure and optimizing economic functions (resource utilization, distribution, and production). When weighing faith, it should be weighed against the overall good of society. If, in your interpretation of scripture, you are called to cause strife (shun, demonize, judge to hell, bomb your neighbor, etc.) then you must realize that your religion/logos is only supported by faith; that by faith, the abasement of your neighbor is also the abasement of yourself.
