Reply #34: I think we've gone full circle.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

To use your Star Trek analogy, remember that even Spocks sometimes make mistakes. I think it's disingenuous to claim that "some people like Bones, some people like Spock" - I haven't seen the show for years, but I think everyone would agree that Spock was the better at reaching correct conclusions.

But what I think you're claiming, and what I'm certainly denying, is that all or most religious people reach their religion through Bones-like and not flawed Spock-like processes.

In the absence of that claim, all that's left is "the chain of reasoning leading to religious belief is flawed", which I agree with, but which I don't think there's any point devoting an entire OP to without even touching on reasons why it's true.