cyberpi said:
No, I am objecting to anyone using the word 'faith' to mean a religion or a belief. I submit that Faith is an important concept common across people with different religions and beliefs. I think they are unique words. For example, I submit that Faith requires communication. Many people from different religions have built stone walls and castles around themselves instead of developing Faith with others.
I say communication NOT to make a contest out of whether or not someone has a relationship with God (swt): I suggest that all people have a relationship they are not fully aware of, and hopefully see a fully positive relationship some day.
Regardless of whether you're right or wrong, when people use the word "faith" they do mean "religion" or "belief." It's how the word is used. That's what happens when we say, "Jewish faith," "Christian faith" or "Islamic faith." It's a cultural thing. Let's not get too technical here. Language is just used for communication. There is no need to be over-meticulous about syntax and semantics.
Suppose someone came up to me and said, "Give me five!!!"
Five what? The number five denotes a quantity. Quantity must be associated with an object. What object am I referring to? But "give me five" is slang. The objects are the fingers on your hand.
How about "let's go and hang out." Hang what out? What are we hanging?
Then there's "Let's talk about the birds and the bees."
Eh? Birds? Bees? Where? I don't see any birds. I don't see any bees. What are you talking about? Sex?
Or consider the phrase "quantum leap." A quantum is a packet of energy. Yet "quantum leap" refers to a rapid advance in technology. Yet since "quantum" refers to a photon, it doesn't refer to advances in technology. People simply use the word to refer to advances in technology because they associate it with something advanced.
Technically, the word isn't being correctly used, but this what people write in magazines. That's how they use it. Physicists and scientists can't force the rest of the world to use the word "quantum" the way they want, just because it's technically incorrect. They can't set up a board of Inquisitors to go around the world, marching into all the publishing houses and cafeterias in the world saying, "The phrase
quantum leap is forbidden. A quantum is a packet of energy. It does not mean advances in technology. We will fine you $100 for misusing that word. This is the Law. We expect you to follow it."
There are always going to be people ignorant of the technicalities. The North Pole, for example, is not really a north pole -- it's a south pole!!! Yet we call it a north pole because it's a tradition.
Where are the Linguistic Police? I don't see any Linguistic Police around enforcing the correct use of words.
Big deal if people are wrong. They are going to use the word that way regardless of what you say. That's because everyone else is doing it.