Around the world for many civilizations and cultures, faith is an important component of one's upbringing. Often used in the realm of a religious context, faith is also synonymous with belief. If we look at the history of the word 'faith' we can see a pattern. The usage of the word witnessed a decline through the industrial revolution. But, whenever humankind encountered a threat, the usage of the word has increased. One can notice the pattern through World War II, Cold War, Economic Crisis in the 70s and the 90s and more recently through the outbreak of the global pandemic in 2020.
‘Belief’ became more synonymous in the context of science and was used in reference to a scientific hypothesis and 'faith' developed a religious (hinting an irrational) connotation.
The opposite has been true too. That is, whenever a religious institution was threatened, the usage of the word ‘faith’ surged. One particular example being during the time of Galileo when Europe shifted to a Heliocentric model. In fact, the usage surged over multiple folds in a matter of a short span of a decade. Another word that is similar in meaning and has experienced the same paradigm is' belief'. Except that in the post-industrial time onward the two words’ usage pattern graphs drifted apart.
‘Belief’ became more synonymous in the context of science and was used in reference to a scientific hypothesis and 'faith' developed a religious (hinting an irrational) connotation. Therefore, the graph of usage for ‘belief’ went northward in the twentieth century.
In any case, both the words 'faith' and 'belief' have a similar meaning, and we've chosen to alter the overtones. Both words deal with unknown territory.
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