They say proven god is no god. The question of faith has eluded a human mind. Do we define it? Can we define it? Any attempt to define faith has failed. And why not? Thrusting definition on something which doesn't have borders and contours will be adding more complexity to it. We always chase it, but can't quite pocket it. Rumi prayed to God to take him to a station where he can communicate to Him through silence. The language that faith demands defies speech. More words we employ to describe it, more complex the subject tends to become. Everyone tries to fathom faith his own way, but no one could tap the whole truth behind it. And perhaps no one can. 
Religions are denominations. Our way of defining deliverance is unilateral and unidirectional. That militates against the very spirit of human freedom. If we want to serve our respective religions, the best way will be to contribute to co-existence. Let matters of belief not lead us to coercion. It applies to all followers of all religions.
One wonders as to how do our sermonizers fume on the question of faith.  They make it sound too simple and too literal whereby the entire humanity can be divided into either faithful or faithless, into the people of paradise and people of hell. There is nothing in between.  There are no shades between this black and white.
Faith is a matter strictly personal. Who is blest, who cursed, who knows?Allegorically speaking, it's an uphill climb where just a stumble can make one come crashing down the hill. So how does one protect one's faith is consequently an affair that one must decide for one's own self. Any policing done in its name or any needless sermonizing which we think serves a purpose proves counter-productive. Faith is no one's fiefdom. The tragedy is that we too reject any coercion in the name of faith. We too claim to be the greatest votaries of `freedom to accept' or `freedom to reject'. But all this must happen the way we want it to be. As all roads to redemption go through our street. Our own street. That form of faith makes us dangerously parochial. And once we become bigots, violence is born. That birth of violence is the root of all trouble. Let's all take faith a universe where even faithless live, not a prison where you step in once, never to step out.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 2 Feb 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 2 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 3 Feb 2013 00:00:00 IST