But faith IS irrational; if it were rational it would be a conclusion from evidence.

LOVE the battleground game, but would of course argue that since I have no religious beliefs, mine are not irrational, so I spit out one of the bullets, I think. If I had any, I would agree that they were irrational.

I have HOPES, myself, rather than faith, in humanity - I have known since I was a very small child and was learning about people's gods that if real people would just work together, we would be AS gods, in the sense of being able to accomplish anything.

I am reminded of that every time I am in a huge crowd of people all experiencing something together, like waiting outside the bookstore for the last Harry Potter book, or Obama's inauguration, or something else not directly working against, oh, say, poverty.