Furthermore, faith is not irrational by definition. It is entirely possible to have faith in something for thoroughly rational reasons, based on direct experience. For instance, I have faith in the snow tires on my car. They have performed well in the past, and I expect they will again. I have faith in certain people, based on their past excellent behaviour. I also have faith, interestingly enough, in the power of prayer, because I've seen dramatic and unexpected things happen on the few occasions in my life when I prayed with genuine, absolute undivided focus and real urgency (those occasions were quite rare, I can tell you...mostly I'm way too busy just being "normal", as you might put it...like most people are).