ed it, scientists published carefully researched papers about them, and newspaper headlines read "INCREDIBLE DISCOVERY: TALKING FISH!" then it would be more than reasonable to believe that they existed. No one really disputes such common sense, until it is applied to religion.I have never seen or talked to a god, nor seen a god do anything unmistakably godlike. People insist that they know one exists, but most of them really say they only feel it, and do not offer any other proof. Indeed, it is odd that even the believers brand those few who honestly offer the more genuine proof of actually hearing god talk insane, Believers are probably right about that, but their own "feeling" that a god exists isn't any more convincing to me. Anyone might "feel" that fish could talk, but that wouldn't mean it were so, nor would that be a very reliable way to know it was true even if it was. People also say that the Bible says a god exists. The Bible also says that a guy lived inside the belly of a giant fish for three days, somehow failing to be digested in its stomach acids, and there was a flood "so great" that it covered all the mountains with water for the purpose of fulfilling a genocidal whim of an apparently uncreative god. (Why not just make everyone vanish instantly and save the world's people and animals the suffering of being drowned?) Since these all sound like tall tales to me, I think god is probably a tall tale, too. If the Bible said there were talking fish, I would not believe it until I saw one myself. (The bible does fittingly claim the existence of a talking ass.) Likewise, the Bible may say a god exists, but I still will not believe it until I see one myself.It also seems reasonable to me that if people lived by reason instead of faith, a great many tragedies would be averted, and an equal number of advances would be made, especially in human behavior. I do not claim this as a recipe for utopia, only for significant improvement. ...
