Why We Believe

Okay, first I think that this is a GREAT article and makes completely valid points. I too am, and always have been skeptical about most things related to "paranormal". That being said........here we go

My youngest 11 year old daughter has been diagnosed with a case of mild (if there really is such a distinction) epilepsy. She has had 2 separate confirmed seizures. She has always had a noticeable penchant-for lack of better term- for OCCASIONALLY being able to do such things as answer your question before you actually say it out loud or correctly guess numbers when playing a common "what number am I thinking of" game. While far from 100% accurate, without a doubt her ability in this area is uncanny to say the least. Innocuos by description but fairly interesting for discussion.

Sparing everyone anecdotal examples because bottom line is that you are either going to believe this or not, I can cite specific examples that go well beyond the point of chance or anything explainable by any type of reasoning we currently are aware of. Having your 6 year old daughter turn to you and say I want to go to McDonalds too (underline TOO being the key word) when it is what you are thinking but never said aloud is un-nerving if not unexplainable.

Take it for what it is worth but the point of this ramble is that is that I truly believe that we are still far from discovering all the true workings and powers of the human brain. Science and medicine tell us that epilepsy is related to electromagnetic impulses and brain waves that misfire, or temporarly go out of sync. I believe this. I also believe that we still have a lot to learn in this area and how it may also relate to aura- personality-non verbal communication- etc. I would predict that some time in the not to distant future telepathy and other such terms that we kind of roll our collective eyes at now will no longer be associated with science FICTION.
IMHO

It would be nice if so called Scientists would not continually prove how stupid they are by saying something is not true if you can not prove it. True principles exist no matter what we think, say, or prove. Every time we prove something new, it testifies of this fact. Isn't it okay to say that you don't understand something, and continue to search for answers rather than rationalize away a fact that you don't understand. I once was in a football stadium at a dance festival on a Saturday night back in the 60's. The event was opened with a prayer where it was asked that coming rain would be tempered so that the performance could continue. As the evening progressed we could see the downpour approaching the stadium. When it finally reached the stadium, a window of sky opened up just above us, and the rain did not touch any dancer in the stadium. We stood in amazement when we could see a distinct line circling the stadium where the rain stopped. We did not feel one drop of rain. In the years to follow, I actually refrained from telling this story because I believed that it must have just happened in my mind. To my amazement, I have numerous people that I did not previously know recount this same experience to me. I actually was ashamed that I would rationalize this experience as a fantasy. Thousands of people witnessed this event, and I guarantee, not one of them could prove how it happened. Was it a paranormal event, or maybe there are powers on this earth that we don't understand. Maybe there really is a God. Fancy that!

Great article, great reporting. I want to stress that I think this is a wonderful piece, because I am about to submit to what psychologists might call "disputation bias", wherein I only comment on what I disagree wtih. That would be the final paragraph, wherein the "beliefs" of skeptics are summed up with little evidence to support the claims. While Hitchens might revel in a bit of "intellectual superiority", I believe Dawkins, Harris, etc are more strongly motivated by the abuses of power and attempts at social control which we witness daily in the name of "higher" powers. Whether it be the "honor" killings which occur in the Middle East for a woman's perceived misuse of her sexuality or the battles in the US over stem-cell research. Their point in organizing is not so say, ha ha, I'm smarter than you, but rather to say, look, you may live your life in any way you choose and keep faith in any way you wish, but we need to work together to make sure our liberties, both personal and intellectual, are not infringed upon by those who think they have a monopoly on truth regardless of the deficit of their evidence. They deserve more credit for their courage than you have granted them.

The first page and already the word empirical appears more than 4 times. Try using words like sound, proven or factual. I was interested but the article reads like a bad history text book.

The first page and already the word empirical appears more than 5 times, Try words like solid or factual or proven. I was interested but this article reads like a bad history book we were forced to read in high school.

One thing the article did not talk about is hearing sounds that seem perfectly normal or logical, but could not have actually occurred, such as doors opening and closing, a garage door, car engine running in the garage, footsteps on the stairway, etc. One time when babysitting at my sister's house, I heard all of this and it seemed logical that someone was coming home and entering the house thru the garage. I went to the door and discovered that no car had pulled in, no doors had opened, etc. It was extremely weird. When my sister came home I told her about this, her first question was to ask where I had been when I heard this. I said I was sitting upstairs with the kids in her daughter's room. (But the odd thing in hindsight was that the kids did not hear the sound I heard.) My sister said she and her daughter had often heard this same sequence of noises (garage door opening, car idling in garage, heavy footsteps entering the house) when they were in her room. There was no logical explanation. We just thought of it as a "haunted" house. But it was really not scary, there was no emotion involved with the sounds, it was like hearing a tape recording.

All of you athiests are idiots. Period.

This discussion reveals nothing new. These arguments go on and on and there is no resolution or even compromise possible. For the truly scientifically trained (and I am not talking about those being the only intelligent people) something is true only if it can be deduced from a agreed upon and substantiate set of principals; for the "believers" a spirit world exists by simple postulation and thus anything and everything, no matter how outrageous (e.g., being abducted by aliens!) is fully possilbe. Once the spirit world is accepted, then you are on the road to being influenced by anyone who has a good story. Can one side change the thinking of the other? It took the Catholic Church 500 years to apologize for condeming Galileo for his thinking that the earth was not the center of the universe. Trying to change one's world view may be a useless endeavor.

humans are the dumbest animals on the planet

One aspect of paranormal experience that was not discussed, is hearing a noise that sounds totally normal but which is later verified that it could not have really occurred, such as a garage door opening, a car engine running, footsteps in a hall, etc. I had this experience when babysitting at my sister's house, and it sounded so real I expected a person to have come into the house. I was not stressed out at the time nor even thinking about anyone coming by the house.
When my sister came home and I told her about it, her first question was to ask where I was sitting when I heard this. I said, near the entrance to her daughter's bedroom. She told me that she and her daughter had both heard this type of sound when they were in that particular spot in the house. None of us have ever had any explanation for it. We did always think that house was haunted, but not necessarily in a scary or bad way.

This article reflects the belief I have now since I became an athiest a year ago. I was a christian before for many years, but always had problems with certain beliefs. A couple of years after my mother's passing, I had what I call a wakening. I don't know why I had it, considering that the christian believe that her spirit was in heaven was so conforting. However my awakening revealed that all my beliefs was all in my mind. I can say that it was a frightening experience to realize that we are one of many species of many on this world, but being the only one capable of self-awareness, and that we are so microscopic in this universe. I think man since the begining of its excistence has wanted to know the reason of why we are here, and what is our purpose here. Man is a creature that is fearful of his existance, knowing that his life is limited. It does bring some confort to belief tha there is life after death. Having a creative mind, man can make up any thing and force himself to believe it, and convince others of it. As for myself, this realization has made me more aware of the world. That is why there so many religions and beliefs. As for me, I don't care what others believe. Everyone is entitled to believe whatever they want. I shall live my life the best I can, trying to make this a better place for the next and future generation.

To Bunnun, one is never called on to prove a negative. The burden of proof is on those who claim something. If you want to live your life with an open mind, understand that it must be as equally open to leprachauns as it is to teapots whirling around Saturn, monkeys flying out of televisions, or any other paranormal claim one chooses to make.
To AlbinoRhino, I am not certain you did an adequate, attentive job of reading the article. Its naturalistic claims about reality are far more plausible than your supernatural claims about reality. You are essentially the same as a Muslim that believes in Allah. You are one who would burn witches at the stake or used the Bible to justify slavery were you born in the time and place that these things occurred. Your passionate fanaticism and lack of critical thinking abillity evidences that had you been born in the Middle East, you very well may have been one of the Muslim zealots who bombed our World Trade Centers. As long as there are people like you believe without empiricism, there will, sadly, be suicide bombers, gay bashers, sexist and racist bigots, and UNimaginary sources of evil far worse than your devils and demons: religious human beings.

Just a point about throwing a creator (i.e. God) in with ghosts, aliens etc. To be open-minded is to go where the evidence points whatever the implications may be. A friend can sincerely say to me that there's an invisible, dragon living in his garage but I'd have a hard time believing it since I can't see the dragon.

Unless of course, his garage was strewn with strange footprints, huge claw marks on the Honda, charred sports equipment and large, otherwise unexplainable droppings on the floor that contain fur that matches the color of his missing dog. Then I'd have to conclude there's evidence that something just may be hanging out in his garage and one of the options has to be an invisible dragon. Unless of course, I hold to a belief (i.e. faith) that invisible, dog-eating dragons simply do not exist. Then I'd be forced to find another explanation (a 20' grisly with a flame-thrower?) or simply declare that no one can really know what the truth is, except that it's most definitely not a dragon, invisible or otherwise. Truth is truth whether we're comfortable with it or not.

An open mind doesn't preclude any option but examines evidence. If the natural world has evidence of design then shouldn???t you be open to the possibility of a designer? When Ben Stien asked Richard Dawkins how life got here in the first place he admitted that it probably would take a designer. But instead of conceding that it was God he suggested that perhaps a more evolved race developed life and placed it here on earth (I'm not kidding. Check out the clip on Youtube or see Ben Stein's move "xpelled, no intelligence allowed") but that only begs the question: Where did the alien life come from then?

Science tells us that life only comes from life (the law of biogenesis) Science tells us that nothing comes from nothing. Science tells us that complexity indicates design which indicates intelligence. To preclude God based on a belief that God doesn't exist is circular reasoning "God doesn't exists so the answer cannot involve God". If someone believes all this is a big, happy accident than they have more faith than than I do.

To Bunnun, one is never called on to prove a negative. The burden of proof is on those who claim something. If you want to live your life with an open mind, understand that it must be as equally open to leprachauns as it is to teapots whirling around Saturn, monkeys flying out of televisions, or any other paranormal claim one chooses to make.
To AlbinoRhino, I am not certain you did an adequate, attentive job of reading the article. Its naturalistic claims about reality are far more plausible than your supernatural claims about reality. You are essentially the same as a Muslim that believes in Allah. You are one who would burn witches at the stake or used the Bible to justify slavery were you born in the time and place that these things occurred. Your passionate fanaticism and lack of critical thinking abillity evidences that had you been born in the Middle East, you very well may have been one of the Muslim zealots who bombed our World Trade Centers. As long as there are people like you believe without empiricism, there will, sadly, be suicide bombers, gay bashers, sexist and racist bigots, and UNimaginary sources of evil far worse than your devils and demons: religious human beings.

Perhaps spiritual activity is beyond human's abilities to perceive and understand, and will never, and can never be explained by science. There is an unknown out there that we don't understand and I don't find it necessary to believe something, such as a religion, without proof. I am not a fan of religion, since every religion has proof that "Their" god exists. But I don't agree that science can explain more than religion in terms of "reincarnation" or spirits. This is my opinion. Everyone has one. Why does one have to be more correct than the other??

Perhaps spiritual activity is beyond human's abilities to perceive and understand, and will never, and can never be explained by science. There is an unknown out there that we don't understand and I don't find it necessary to believe something, such as a religion, without proof. I am not a fan of religion, since every religion has proof that "Their" god exists. But I don't agree that science can explain more than religion in terms of "reincarnation" or spirits. This is my opinion. Everyone has one. Why does one have to be more correct than the other??

I'm not a rocket scientist or anything but if you are leaning that God doesn't exsist? Are you feeling like that because you cant see him? Well I hate to break it you but you cant see the air you breathe yet you breathing right? Or is it perhaphs you went through or are going through a tough time in your life and just because you are a poor sport and thing don't turn out your way you pout like a child and blame God or dont believe he exists? If you are gonna blame anyone blame yourself or maybe your parents. As far the spritual world spend a night in a few so called haunted hotel rooms or houses, or camp out at gettysburg. The paranomal does exist to an extent. The mind is a powerful thing and you just haven't experienced the true potential of your mind and what the world has in store. In general anything you believe is your own reality.