(June 29, 2015 at 4:59 pm)Spooky Wrote: Short of indoctrination and maintaining familial ties, why believe? Assuming an person has no psychological or developmental disabilities, the lack of evidence, or masses of evidence to the contrary should be obvious.
What keeps an otherwise intelligent adult believing in the supernatural?
I don't think there is any reason for an otherwise intelligent and sane adult to believe in the supernatural that is "short of indoctrination." I think that is pretty much it for people today, unless they are not intelligent or have not been tolerably educated, or are crazy and hear "god" talking to them. You will be hard-pressed to find a religious person who was not raised to believe nonsense, and who was taught critical thinking skills, who is reasonably intelligent, and does not hear voices in their head. I have never met any such person, and I would be very hesitant to believe a story in which someone made such a claim, as there are many religious people who have no scruples about lying to further their holy cause.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
