Religion
In reply to the discussion: Can You Prove It Didn't Happen? [View all]rug
(82,333 posts)The short answer is revelation.
Beyond vague intimations which may be simple indigestion, no one can reason his or her way to this. The history of religions almost all have their seeds in people who have had profound religious experiences in which it is said God has revealed himself or herself (depending on the tradition). Start with the burning bush, the Pentecost, Paul's blindness, the banyan tree or hundreds of other examples.
Scoff or not, these messages have resonated with billions of humans over thousands of years and there is a coherence and commonality to most of these religions. And the basic message is not bad. Quite the contrary.
Is this all bullshit? Who knows? But to overlook this ancient human activity and dismiss it on the ground it can not be found in a high school lab book is ignoring something vast for the most trivial of reasons.
FWIW, the more specific physical claims that are made about any given deity, the more skeptical I become.
To once again quote Kirk,