From: Steve Shaw - PM
Date: 31 Oct 17 - 07:25 AM
i prefer not to do belief.
"It may also be taken as evidence of your mental state."
In that case you are calling into question the mental state of billions of believers in God. After all, he's no more likely to exist, based on any evidence I've ever seen, than fairies at the bottom of my garden.
Not at all.
If you truly believe you saw fairies then you have a reason for your belief in fairies.
If it was a statement you made just to make a point, but do not believe in (also known as a lie), then that is of less value than statements made by persons who believe they are telling the truth.
On that basis there is no equivalence in your belief in fairies, and others belief in God.


St Bernadette's witness testimony was evidence. But at this remove it must be considered that anyone relying on it is relying on 'hearsay evidence', as no-one now living was alive to cross-examine her. But the fact that it was recorded for posterity suggests that many found it credible at that time.
Similarly, no-one now can give personal evidence of the Battle of Rourke's Drift. But there is sufficient documentary evidence available that I do not doubt it occurred (although the version in the film 'Zulu' may not be a true representation).