Something can come from nothing.

[Asmodean]

In business, for example, you don't know that your new enterprise will be successful, but you proceed with faith that it will be (after appropriate planning, of course).

If you start your business on faith, you will likely end up bankrupt and lose your wife, house and dog. If, however, you start a business based on supply/demand, competition and market research and then maintain supply of that which enough people are willing to pay for to support you, your government and your employees with wages, taxes and whatnot, then you might just succeed. No faith required - just doing something that makes sense if you have done your research.

In religion, you don't know that living for God will be advantageous, or even that God exists, but you proceed with faith that it will be advantageous and that he does exist.  So the object of faith in these two situations is entirely different, but there are similarities in the way it is applied.

Different objets of faith, but the approach you presented is equally faulty. Try approaching your god using a similar template to the one I provided for business and you might come to some educated conclusions on the usefulness of faith.

Many people prefer not to go all in just because they believe the dice will come up snake-eyes. However, if they poke around a little and discover the dice are shaved to do just that, those same people just might. There you have the difference between people who trust and hope and people who do their homework.

[joeactor]

Although I do agree that basing any venture on faith alone probably means it is destined to fail, by the same token a clockwork world where doing one's homework and calculating the odds doesn't guarantee success... it only helps it.

Faith and/or belief in something can be a positive motivating factor, and is a key element to success.  It is one part of a larger picture, and by no means worthless or unnecessary.

We are imperfect beings in an imperfect world.  No amount of planning or calculation will ensure a given result.  Viewing a world as nothing more than data and odds will just as quick lead to failure as viewing the world solely based on faith.

... IMHO, of course ;-)

[Ecurb Noselrub]

In business, for example, you don't know that your new enterprise will be successful, but you proceed with faith that it will be (after appropriate planning, of course).

If you start your business on faith, you will likely end up bankrupt and lose your wife, house and dog. If, however, you start a business based on supply/demand, competition and market research and then maintain supply of that which enough people are willing to pay for to support you, your government and your employees with wages, taxes and whatnot, then you might just succeed. No faith required - just doing something that makes sense if you have done your research.

Well, I'll make one more response and then leave this topic.  I assumed in my example above that "appropriate planning" would be done first. That would include the factors you indicated, including market research and financing, etc.  Faith is still required to make it a reality.  Your research will never go from a business plan to a real business without it. Entrepeneurs are risk-takers, and that involves acts of faith - action to make the plan a reality.  Faith in the economy, in the markets, in your suppliers, in your employees, in your financial backers, in your managerial ability and in your idea - all are integral.  You have to believe in your idea, your ability, your plan. Otherwise, nothing gets done. Faith is a virtue.

[Davin]

In business, for example, you don't know that your new enterprise will be successful, but you proceed with faith that it will be (after appropriate planning, of course).

If you start your business on faith, you will likely end up bankrupt and lose your wife, house and dog. If, however, you start a business based on supply/demand, competition and market research and then maintain supply of that which enough people are willing to pay for to support you, your government and your employees with wages, taxes and whatnot, then you might just succeed. No faith required - just doing something that makes sense if you have done your research.

Well, I'll make one more response and then leave this topic.  I assumed in my example above that "appropriate planning" would be done first. That would include the factors you indicated, including market research and financing, etc.  Faith is still required to make it a reality.  Your research will never go from a business plan to a real business without it. Entrepeneurs are risk-takers, and that involves acts of faith - action to make the plan a reality.  Faith in the economy, in the markets, in your suppliers, in your employees, in your financial backers, in your managerial ability and in your idea - all are integral.  You have to believe in your idea, your ability, your plan. Otherwise, nothing gets done. Faith is a virtue.

Everything I get done, I get done without faith (and that's a lot of things). Faith is not required to get anything done. You don't have to have faith to do things. Faith is useless.

[Heisenberg]

In business, for example, you don't know that your new enterprise will be successful, but you proceed with faith that it will be (after appropriate planning, of course).

If you start your business on faith, you will likely end up bankrupt and lose your wife, house and dog. If, however, you start a business based on supply/demand, competition and market research and then maintain supply of that which enough people are willing to pay for to support you, your government and your employees with wages, taxes and whatnot, then you might just succeed. No faith required - just doing something that makes sense if you have done your research.

Well, I'll make one more response and then leave this topic.  I assumed in my example above that "appropriate planning" would be done first. That would include the factors you indicated, including market research and financing, etc.  Faith is still required to make it a reality.  Your research will never go from a business plan to a real business without it. Entrepeneurs are risk-takers, and that involves acts of faith - action to make the plan a reality.  Faith in the economy, in the markets, in your suppliers, in your employees, in your financial backers, in your managerial ability and in your idea - all are integral.  You have to believe in your idea, your ability, your plan. Otherwise, nothing gets done. Faith is a virtue.

So now we're just turning faith into a meaningless word to describe why we're even willing to get out of bed in the morning? When I cross the street I don't have faith that I won't get hit by a car. I look both ways and if I see no cars coming, I cross. Perhaps I missed a car and it will hit me. I recognize this as a possibility but I'd rather trust that I'm able to see whether or not a car is coming than just sit there and not cross. I find this argument as useless as the idea of faith.

People who are too petrified to act don't suffer from a lack of faith, they suffer from a lack of balls.

[Asmodean]

Although I do agree that basing any venture on faith alone probably means it is destined to fail, by the same token a clockwork world where doing one's homework and calculating the odds doesn't guarantee success... it only helps it.

And I neither stated nor implied that you WILL succeed by doing your homework. I did use the word "might" and the word "just"

Acting based on research is more sensible than acting based on faith. It does not guarantee success, but is one step towards that success. Faith is not even that.

Faith and/or belief in something can be a positive motivating factor, and is a key element to success.  It is one part of a larger picture, and by no means worthless or unnecessary.

...If you can not find better motivating factors, perhaps. However, sticking to the example of business, a good motivating factor for me would not be belief in my venture's success, but to start with, doing what I like and, after a while, good results or prospects thereof.

We are imperfect beings in an imperfect world.  No amount of planning or calculation will ensure a given result.  Viewing a world as nothing more than data and odds will just as quick lead to failure as viewing the world solely based on faith.

Disagree. Not just as quickly. Doing your homework to the best of your abilities will in many cases dramatically increase your odds of success. A for instance: You can study mathematics and then take the exam. You may fail, but then if you have done your job studying, you are likely not to. Now, you can take that exam fueled by the power of your belief in knowing math, but without proper study. In this case, you are fare more likely to fail.

Being confident in one's abilities does help, but one should not approach the level of faith in regard to them as I see it - that is likely to be more harmful than beneficial.

[Stevil]

I was getting confused with the difference between "faith" and "confidence", so I looked it up
faith

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.
5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

Essentially 3, 4 and 5 are meaningless as definitions as they seem more like examples of 2 rather than definitions.
1 suggests that faith is confidence or trust.

So what is trust?
trust

1. reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.
2. confident expectation of something; hope.
3. confidence in the certainty of future payment for property or goods received; credit: to sell merchandise on trust.
4. a person on whom or thing on which one relies: God is my trust.
5. the condition of one to whom something has been entrusted

2 and 3 suggest that trust is a form of confidence
1 and 4 suggest that trust is reliance
5 is circular and hence meaningless as a definition

So what is reliance?
reliance

1. confident or trustful dependence.
2. confidence.
3. something or someone relied on.

1 and 2 suggest that reliance is a type of confidence or trustful dependance.
We can ignore the trustful dependance part because we are getting a meaningless circular definition.
3 is circular and hence meaningless as a definition

So we end up with a definition that faith is a subset of confidence with the added constraint that it is not based on proof.
This means that when a person says they have faith they are admitting that there is no proof.
If they go on to show you their evidence/proofs then they are contradicting themselves.
Even when they state that they have had a personal experience, this surely would be considered to be a proof revealed to their personal self. If they cite PE then they cannot have faith.

But it begs the question, what is the difference between faith and blind faith?

[Asmodean]

But it begs the question, what is the difference between faith and blind faith?

Don't take my word for it, but I think blind faith is the one not questioned, while the "regular" variety does not proclude searching for proof to back it.