“Faith consists in believing, not what seems contrary to reason, but what is above reason.”Voltaire · Dicționar filozofic · 1764 · Foi
Faith lives above reason but dies against it: mystery can be believed, denied facts cannot.
Voltaire, a deist, defends a territory for faith without ceding ground to reason. The distinction is fine: a mystery beyond the mind's reach can be an object of faith, but a claim proven false cannot be rescued by faith, for that would mean believing against the evidence. Someone who believes the earth is flat against every measurement has not faith but denial. Faith in something like the soul's eternity remains beyond proof.
Why it matters Useful in dialogue between believers and skeptics: it separates legitimate mystery from denial of facts.