Ron wroite "The main problem with this thread originates in-- surprise-- the title.

Words mean something.   Delusion according to my dictionary:   'false, persistent belief'.

That's the crux.   The word 'false' conveys certainty.   There is no certainty in this question. Therefore this language--the very title of the book, and of the thread--is inflammatory. As are remarks like 'imaginary friend'.

Even to those of us who are not religious but are willing to admit the existence of God is an open question." [unquote Ron]




[quote Steve, a week ago] Ron: "But "delusion" goes beyond this. Dictionary: delusion: a "false persistent belief"

It therefore states that anybody who believes in God is dead wrong."

Steve: No it doesn't. Even Richard Dawkins says he is not certain that God doesn't exist. The delusion refers to the whole world of belief, with all its ceremony and trappings and elaborate "theology", that revolves around a being whose probability of existence is vanishingly small as measured on any rational scale.