God: No magic required

[Kayenneh]

Why think in this way? Good peer review medical research shows that spiritual and religious people are happier and actually live longer than atheists

Citation needed.

The evidence is, of course, inconclusive.

I beg to differ. It's quite conclusive. Prayer has no effect whatsoever. Flipping a coin is actually simpler and gives you precisely the same outcome, either you get what you pray for, or you don't.

but virtually every believer has enough personal evidence to convince said believer that "God" helps in the areas of personal courage, comfort, resilience, conviction, morality, and so on.

Oh wow, really? Deluded people thinking that their god is listening and that they can draw some power from it? This is news to me!

But a "good" religion, properly "applied" is an unambiguous blessing to those so blessed. This need have nothing at all to do with the Bible, heaven, hell, Satan, Mary, Muhammed, or Jesus.

So I guess you consider yourself to be a True BelieverTM. Take a number, there's a line.

Religion basically comes down to rejecting smug certitude in favor of personal curiosity and finding, for oneself, whether it's possible to believe in God and to find a way to communicate with God, which is meaningful to the individual in question.

As always, people are free to believe in whatever horsehockey they want, just don't go thinking that having extreme delusions are a sign of a curious mind.

- Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA

I suggest you read up on personal security on the internet..