It depends on what you mean by ‘quantify’. People have tried to address this mathematically, for instance starting with the 50:50 possibility that God exists, and then trying to calculate the probability. One such approach used Bayes’ Theorem and calculated a 67% likelihood that God exists. Personally, I don’t need or want a number, and I don’t see any utility in trying to quantify faith.
That said, I go back to my previous post and my contention that to know as infinitesimally little as we do, but make such a dogmatic pronouncement as saying that there is no reason for existence, is without doubt a profound leap of ‘faith’ not based in demonstrable facts.
All that said, I agree with your general premise that it is an exercise in futility to try to quantify someones beliefs. IMHO, we grow when we wonder, and when we are dogmatic we sometimes shut off our ability to wonder. That limits us, and if one believes that the more we know the more we know God (one of my personal beliefs) then we should be wondering and thinking all the time.
Anyway, have a great weekend.
It depends on what you mean by ‘quantify’.
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The comment I responded to initially suggested that it takes more faith to be an atheist than it takes to believe in God.
That was my starting point. It makes little sense to use greater than as a mathematical operator if there is no unit of measure, as I believe to be the case when discussing faith.
Cheers.