Bill, your mention of Santa Claus made me think. As a child, I was taught to believe in Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy and Jack Frost. I really thought they existed and they were part of my mindset of the world. I was also taken to church by my mother and taught to believe in God. Now, the Tooth Fairy always left sixpence under the pillow, Father Christmas filled my stocking and Jack Frost artistically decorated my (unheated) window with frost patterns. God wasn't in evidence. Now, of course, the first three have been consigned to the bin, yet I believe in God still. Please don't assume I'm offering this as 'Proof' because it's no such thing. I'm just exploring these phenomena. After all, one could as easily subscribe to Jack Frost as to a deity. My husband believes in 'spirits' (bad ones) as do most Africans, Muslim or not. I pooh-pooh this, but have I the right to do so? He has no more and no less 'Proof' than I. Perhaps what I'm saying in a woolly way is that no-one can prove or justify their beliefs, and one has to accept people's religions and tenets as part of their make-up. They can't convince you and you can't disillusion them. If we bludgeon everyone whose mindsets annoy us, we'll become horrible verbal bullies.