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<\/a><\/div>\nMany Christians or religious people of any faith tradition, argue that miracles are compelling evidence for the truth of their religion. \u00a0There are plenty of atheist rejoinders \u2014 the most obvious is that many religions claim the evidence of miracles. \u00a0Either miracles are the result of natural processes or delusions, which are plausible enough to fool a wide variety of people, or there is some kind of supernatural force, but good luck linking it to any single religion.<\/p>\n
Telling the difference between the first and second outcome isn\u2019t as easy as I would like.<\/p>\n
Consider the video below:<\/p>\n
[The magician\u2019s video got pulled several years later, but I don\u2019t feel like rewriting specific references in the rest of the post<\/em>]<\/p>\n I \u2018know\u2019 that the impressive tricks are all illusions, but I definitely can\u2019t debunk the video. \u00a0I have my suspicions about the construction of the fast-appearing candles, but I cannot prove them. \u00a0Despite my ignorance, and no matter what the magician claimed at the beginning of his act or how many times he showed me there was \u00a0nothing up his sleeves, most people would agree I was justified in assuming the whole thing was a trick.<\/p>\n Magic-faking is so pervasive and so professional that no lay-person (including me) could be expected to tell illusion from the supernatural. \u00a0This is a weak analogue to the impossibility of any god proving he\/she\/it was omnipotent. \u00a0Surely a sufficiently powerful, but limited being would be able to impersonate omnipotence well enough to fool me.<\/p>\n I run into the same trouble when I try to evaluate miracles or worse, second or third-hand accounts of miracles. \u00a0Their\u00a0occurrence\u00a0across religions and the large number of sham miracles make me reluctant to give\u00a0credence\u00a0to new claims, and I do not have the expertise to tell false from true.<\/p>\n I tend to treat claims about miracles the same way I do claims about magic or extraterrestrial life \u2014 with a high degree of skepticism. \u00a0I would be converted only if a large number of people with expertise investigated the claim and were convinced by the evidence. \u00a0(Think of Houdini investigating and debunking mediums). \u00a0Without that kind of data, I have trouble imagining changing my view.<\/p>\n Does this seem like a reasonable standard?<\/em><\/p>\n How do you judge supernatural claims outside of your faith traditions?<\/em><\/p>\n Many Christians or religious people of any faith tradition, argue that miracles are compelling evidence for the truth of their religion. \u00a0There are plenty of atheist rejoinders \u2014 the most obvious is that many religions claim the evidence of miracles. \u00a0Either miracles are the result of natural processes or delusions, which are plausible enough to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[104,67],"class_list":["post-200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-epistemologyphilosophy","tag-dealing-with-uncertainty","tag-miracles"],"yoast_head":"\n