In OS X Lion 10.7.5 can I turn faces off in iPhoto? Is there a way to bypass the automatic updating of faces in iPhoto (OS X Lion 10.7.5.) My iPhoto is full of "faces" of people it has picked up from the backgrounds of my photos, making it so slow and having to delete so many photos afterwards that I stopped using it.

If not, can you suggest any other similar software I can use to index and sort my photos?
No. There is no way to turn off Faces in iPhoto. The best way is to use Aperture. I use Aperture, but a common alternative is Adobe Lightroom.