Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheese
Believing in a car, another person or the idea of flight is something ALL of us can believe.
When skeptics apply higher standards for claims based on religious experiences than they do for claims based on other experiences, they are thought of as exhibiting a prejudice against religion.
There are many problems with this train of thought. The biggest of all of them is, if there is just one God, why is there such wide variety in the reports of religious experiences?
Real experiences that have a large impact on a person can have completely natural sources without any divine connections....yet we as atheists dont suggest that you the "theist" cannot have a real experience!
The idea that only the religious can experience something divine sounds a whole lot like grape flavored Kool-Aid to me.
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When I talk about a religious experience, I'm not talking about hearing voices or seeing visions. I'm talking about something that I am unable to explain, nor should I be taken to task to explain it to a non-believer. I believe the only measurable effect is that which it has on my own life. I'm not suggesting that these experiences are only for "the faithful". I am suggesting though that they are of a different strain, but that they are in many ways similar.
You can make all the allusions to cults you want. You can make any slanderous remarks you want comparing the evil actions of some that call themselves religious and applying that to the whole. It is wrong that some atheists and religious people somehow attempt to put peoples of both types in silos that can never interact in a passionate and rational manner.
I am often quite disappointed in your comments, Cheese. I respect your beliefs and I am quite sure that you are a logical and reasonable person. However, you don't seem content with that, instead settling for the slander and humiliation of another group of people.