Joesox: What I want to know is “what” you believe in relation to supernatural events. Nobody has answered that question. Kind of odd don’t you think?
People believe in that kind of thing mostly because it was associated with a sense of belonging, authority, confidence, places of immense beauty (churches I think are frequently designed to suggest infinity) etc from an early age. It is emotional. Emotion over-rides reason. That appears to be what it actually is. That’s my theory.
If you or anybody else would be willing to put your beliefs out there to be examined we could at least make a start at determining whether it is correct.
My mistake was couching the ideas in somewhat antagonistic language from the start. I did that partly because I honestly thought I was preaching to the coverted here. It was definitely a mistake. If you are going to tell sonmeone that you think their belief system is delusional you should do it politely, especially if they are in some way friends of yours. To the extent though that I am required to respect people’s apparently delusional religious beliefs (as opposed to their right to hold the belief) I am being expected to accept something without judgement and that is something I definitley WON’T do. I understand that it is not productive to be judgemental with regards to things of no consequence, but some things are important. This is important. Religion is a massive force in the modern world and the more literally it is interpreted the more dangerous it becomes. It is entirely logical to ask what supernatural events people believe in and how they came to those beliefs.
If there is something difficult to undertand about this I’d be gobsmacked to hear what it was.