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Bo102010 comments on Belief in Belief - Less Wrong
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99% of the people I know are religious. This isn't an exaggeration. I can think of 2 or 3 that aren't. (This doesn't count online interactions.)
So... I guess I will just repeat what I said earlier. I've never met anyone who acted like this and wasn't blatantly lying.
You have to realize that "evidence or tests" does not mean the same thing to them as it does to you. They have been conditioned against these words. If the belief is something as vague as, "God will show up during worship." you cannot ask the phrase, "What evidence do you have for this?" This puts them on an immediate defensive because they are used to jerks asking the questions.
This has little to do with quests for belief. It has more to do with the arguments as armies concept. This is an important point. Please don't dismiss it without thinking about it.
The appropriate way to ask the question is to ask for details about how God is showing up and act enthusiastic. "Every time? Wow! How do you know? Does this happen at other worship services? Has it always happened here? Does he show up stronger at some than others? Which ones are the best? Does he say anything to you?"
If this sounds silly to you, than you aren't getting it.
If you bring in an CO2 meter and expect to find God you will be called crazy by the people who believe in him. This is completely different than the dragon-in-the-garage example.
Prayer is the best example were I have seen Christians start getting frustrated. Not because they are coming up with excuses, but because they don't understand why it isn't working. The people I know actually expect something. If I were to ask them if we could see a statistical difference in a study on the effects of prayer they would answer, "Of course!" The problem with these people is that when the results come back negative they will start explaining away the numbers. If, later, you go back and try the same trick they will just repeat the explanations they used last time.
People who answer, "No." are more likely to be praying without thinking it will actually work. They are praying for religious purposes.
Not that I'm saying that religious people don't do this. If you can provide an example that would be great.
I have close friends who are religious, and something that always struck me as both odd and tragic is how they treat their prayers vs. the prayers of others.
When someone else laments that their prayers have not been answered, they reassure them and encourage them to continue praying.
When their own prayers are not answered, they get frustrated and worry that somehow they're failing God and that they don't deserve to have their prayers answered.
For others, they act like no excuse is necessary ("God has a plan"), but for themselves they look for one ("I've been lax in my faith").
This is good evidence for the "belief in belief" theory, but is kind of a bummer to think about (How would you feel if you knew the person reassuring you about your prayers actually had the same frustration as you?).
What's even more of a bummer is how often priests/pastors/etc. get asked "Why does God talk to everyone but me?"
The explanation is that they are just trying to make their friend feel better. You cannot make yourself feel better with the same trick because you know you are secretly condemning your friend for being lax in their faith. You could deny that, I suppose, but I see this more as hypocritical than anything else.
Also, this is significantly more common in certain denominations than others. Some denominations have entire books that solely address this problem.
I don't think that the people I know are secretly condemning their friends for being lax in their faith. It's like they feel constant guilt, and don't identify their bad situations as caused by the same things other peoples' bad situations are.
Kind of like chalking someone else's bad behavior up to character flaws but your own to bad circumstances.
Your point about certain denominations is well taken; my friends are almost exclusively one.