"I'm not saying that psi must be real, only that it seems to merit a closer look than most people in this thread have been implying."

I strongly disagree. Psi has been looked at very intensively for a very long time, and the best it can yield is that it's not completely statistically insignificant. No theories have been posed as to how it works, it hasn't been quantified (ie, how far away, in what time frame can the subject predict the future), and it cannot be demonstrated reliably and repeatedly from even a few individuals who could then be studied more elaborately. Even one person who could always predict the order of a deck of cards would be fascinating. At some point, you just have to say a line of research does not merit further study.

In the mean time, giving these theories credence wastes time and resources and leads people to think they can believe anything they want about the world, including the outstanding religious dogma, since, hey, you never know.