Haddocker, whether we dismiss it as fantasy or not, it wields enormous influence over our civilizations and often our personal lives. Why wouldn't we want to discuss it, whether we believe in it or not?

I know a sweet and otherwise apparently sane woman who doesn't allow people to wander around her garden at certain times of day because it might disturb the garden pixies or fairies (can't recall exactly what she calls 'em). She really believes they're out there, helping her veggies and flowers grow.

Now that is a fairly rare belief (espoused by an odd group of seventies Scottish counter-culture gardeners, if I remember right). It seems pretty harmless, unlikely to end in slogans on coinage; nevertheless, it makes some kinds of conversations with her difficult, and if it were to become as prevalent as certain other religious beliefs, could have a profound effect on how we were permitted to raise crops or even walk on the land. Might even be in some ways beneficial. But some of us would have to say 'now, wait a minute!', despite the 'good' such a belief might accomplish, because there's no evidence of such beings, and not all the effects would be good ones.