I have to agree with the rightwing gun nuts on this one. The presence of a gun does not magically make people want to pick it up and shoot people until you run out of bullets. There are other causes at work here. When my father attended college in the 50s, he and his dormitory roommates all had rifles under their beds, and no one gave it a second thought. They liked to hunt. Neither they nor anyone else ever grabbed those guns and went on a rampage. It happens here in the US, and it started happening recently. What's causing it? Two things: the brutal, alienating culture and the overwhelming prevalence of dangerous psychotropic drugs prescribed by psychiatric quacks.

I find it curious that here I am, approaching middle age, yet I've never once in my entire life had these strange experiences that so many people talk about, seeing ghosts, telepathy, UFOs, thinking about someone and suddenly they call etc. Frankly I think it's all self-delusion. I've been a skeptic all my life so I'm not predisposed to believe in these things. But I've noticed that people who are open-minded about the paranormal are precisely the ones that have these experiences. I think they simply want to have them so their minds play tricks on them . . . "Wouldn't it be interesting and special if grandpa sent me a message as he died? Oh, but I think I did see his picture knocking the wall, didn't I . . ." Well, no. You retrospectively created the "memory" because your fantasy life is quite strong.

What I find funny about believers is that they don't seem to realize the anthropomorphism involved in their beliefs. God to them is basically a great big human being. Someone referred to "infinite consciousness." What is that, pray tell? Consciousness is something humans have (and which we don't even understand very well in our own case. Yet you think you know what God's consciousness would be!) You've simply added the qualifier "infinite." Just as others say God is supremely good, perfectly merciful, absolutely loving, omniscient etc. These are just human characteristics blown up to really big proportions.

I think it was Spinoza who said that if a triangle could speak, it would say God was perfectly triangular. He hit the nail on the head with that one.

hehe Realname now I see you also thought of the triangle's God! I wasn't trying to steal your joke, it must have been telepathy . . .

Jake007: Well, first of all "the Bible says so" isn't a very convincing argument. I don't see why we should believe everything (or anything!) about the nature of God that was thought up and written thousands of years ago. You probably believe it's divine revelation. But how can I believe in divine revelation if I haven't been given any evidence of God yet? You see you're just running in circles trying to prove God by referring to the Bible.

Secondly, it seems beyond obvious to me that humans are just an insignificant little bit of mold floating around the great vast universe. Why should we resemble God, or vice versa? And in what respects? And how can you say that a being that's capable of creating universes is even one tiny bit analogous to us pathetic little human creatures! It's the height of ridiculousness and arrogance.

Several posters have stated that there's lots of empirical evidence for the paranormal. Care to actually name some? And I don't mean the nutty ghostcatchers you saw on TV, or the scary, inexplicable voices you can hear on the internet. I mean scientifically verified data.

People have incredibly strong imaginations. That, I think, is all the explanation one needs for the paranormal. I hate to sound pompous (well, not really), but I've noticed that everyone I know that believes in the paranormal is a bit . . . nutty and credulous. They often also read Tarot cards, or claim to have seen monsters in a lake, or lights in the sky. Usually these are childhood experiences: do I really need to point out that for children the line between fantasy and reality is pretty fuzzy? Or they have these experiences during stressful times, or at times when they're taking lots of drugs. In short, just because people see ghosts doesn't mean they exist. People are very weak, given to silly notions, crackpot ideas and daydreaming. The evidence for that is very strong. If you can't provide evidence for the "paranormal," I think I'll just stick to the normal, thank you very much.

Ah yes, I was addressing something else, I do think paranormality and religion are separate (though related) issues. Frankly I didn't get your question. It sounds like the typical Christian line that non-believers are just sinners who for some inexplicable reason refuse to embrace an overwhelmingly obvious God. Maybe so . . . but I just cannot wrap my head around the idea that God is obvious. Seems like the least obvious thing in the world, if logic, evidence, common sense and reason are your criteria. I know those aren't a believer's criteria, that it has to do with your heart, or faith or intuition or vision or something like that. I clearly haven't been endowed with those capacities. I guess God screwed me over, because I don't remember ever using my free will to reject him.