A loose “theory” of the dynamics of religious belief

[robvalue]

Nice post

Yes, I've noticed a lot of emphasis put on anecdotes, especially ones in which changes come about once the belief starts being held. These changes (which are easily explained in other ways, if they are true at all) are presented as evidence, rather than giving evidence for the actual belief itself.

And like you say, in science, it doesn't matter if something came to me in a dream or if the hypothesis was formed out of randomly falling scrabble tiles. Nor does it matter how I act once I start believing the hypothesis.