We have to recognize that real faith has no easy answers.
我们须认识到真正的信仰,从来没有简单答案
It's difficult and stubborn.
它是困难的、固执而不顺从的
It involves an ongoing struggle,
牵涉不间断的挣扎
a continual questioning of what we think we know, a wrestling with issues and ideas.
要不断怀疑自以为知道的,它是一场争议和想法之争
It goes hand in hand with doubt, in a never-ending conversation with it,
在不停的对话中,它和怀疑如影随形
and sometimes in conscious defiance of it.
某时有意地蔑视怀疑
And this conscious defiance is why I, as an agnostic, can still have faith.
作为一名不可知论者,这种有意识地蔑视怀疑就是为什么我仍然要有信仰
I have faith, for instance, that peace in the Middle East
例如,我相信中东地区和平是可行的
is possible despite the ever-accumulating mass of evidence to the contrary.
尽管越来越多证据证明事实恰恰相反
I'm not convinced of this. I can hardly say I believe it.
我不相信这点,也很难说我相信
I can only have faith in it, commit myself, that is, to the idea of it,
我只能护卫着信仰,致力于它的理念
and I do this precisely because of the temptation
我这样做正因为诱惑
to throw up my hands in resignation and retreat into silence.
让我举起双手投降,并退回到沉默中
Because despair is self-fulfilling.
因为绝望是一种自我实现
If we call something impossible, we act in such a way that we make it so.
如果我们认为某些事不可能,我们就以这样的方式行动使它真的不可能实现
And I, for one, refuse to live that way.
对我来说,我拒绝这样生活