Before we attempt to tackle this question, we must first establish the definition of 'Faith' and 'Virtue', so as to know what it is that we are implying. The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'Faith' as;
“Complete trust in someone or something”
Or
“Strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof”
Now we look at 'Virtue';
“A quality considered morally good, or desirable in a person”
________
As you are well aware, in common, everyday language, the word Faith is thrown around a fair bit, so I will address this, before moving on to 'Faith' in it's latter sense and it's questionable 'Virtue'.
Let's take the fairly common sentiment “you can do it, I have Faith in you”. By our previous definition, you would actually mean you, 'trust this person will succeed'. Now let us say that we have a friend called 'John', John has entered a swimming tournament and hopes he will win. The only trouble is, John swims like an anvil. Sincerely wanting John to win, but knowing, based on previous evidence that there is almost no chance he will win, we boost his confidence by playing the 'Faith' card in hopes that he will.
In almost every way that we use the word 'Faith', what we mean is that we Trust, or Believe in this person or thing. Many times, we do this not realising that we are confusing for example, 'Sincere hope for the success of the person/persons in question', with 'unsubstantiated Faith claims of their success'. But all is well and good, day to day misapplication of words are not what I am here to write about.
Now what of 'Religious' Faith, surely that is a virtue? Surely the scores of 'faithful' prostrating before who they 'believe' is the one and only almighty god, is an act of piousness which has no equal within the ranks of human virtue?
On the contrary. What religion demands of the faithful, is an utterly firm, unwavering, unquestionable level of 'Faith'. Faith not only makes no requirements for proof, but rather, it impedes it, it thrives in spite of it, insisting and depending on the 'Credulity' and 'Gullibility' of people, it flourishes in the minds of 'believers', with an almost childlike arrogance worn like a badge of honour on the chest of ignorance. Attached to it, is years of emotional baggage, making it all the more difficult to let go in the face of glaring evidence to the contrary.
Having previously defined 'Virtue' as “A quality considered morally good, or desirable in a person”, one must ask oneself if qualities such as, Credulity and Gullibility are morally good, let alone desirable?
There is belief based on evidence and then there is 'Faith', If one is to establish a connection with reality and the world as it is, and attempt to determine if ones perception is accurately correlated with it, then the pathway to achieving this is via critical thinking and reason as applied to evidence, thus by definition; no amount of 'Faith' is sufficient enough to confirm ones perception of reality, as reality.
A Virtue? One would sincerely hope not.
