Pope Francis

If you believe them sure. Why would you believe a handful of people with no supporting philosophy, reason, or evidence?

Quote: FrGamble

If you believe them sure.

Why not believe them, there is every
bit as much evidence for aliens as there
is for god and the devil. They are both
equably credible. On the credibility
of 1 to 10, they are both a zero,

Well lets see. Is there a historical person they can point to that has had a miraculous impact on human history. Do 99% of the people who have existed believe that they were abducted by aliens (N.B. the shear number of people does NOT mean something is true. But is evidence that something is going on), are there miracles they can point to? Do alien abductions necessarily have to exist for there to be anything at all? What insights have those who have been abducted shared that helps us underatand the human condition and who we are? Have successful societies and cultures been based on what we've learned from those abducted by aliens?

I think if you answer these questions you will see the difference pretty clearly and that we are talking about very different levels of credibility. I will say though that there is much more evidence that lends itself to alien abductions than to atheism.

So a god is less likely to exist in New Mexico where belief in alien abductions runs rampant?
What about a belief in other trendy obsessions?

Smokescreen?????
Is this 'Abortion is like hiring a hitman' statement akin to a smoke screen to deflect attention away from the abuse perpetuation issues?

Quote: FrGamble

that has had a miraculous impact on human history.

This means a lot to you, it's your
go-to talking point. The only
reason it's true is, the Church did
it by force. They literally physically
forced people to believe, and
severely threatened the believers
who fell by the wayside. And they
did this for a thousand years.

They were the only game in town
for a thousand years because they
made sure nobody else had a chance.
You act like it's all because Jesus and
his word are so wonderful. That's
so far from the truth as to be laughable.

What is laughable is your understanding of Church history and world history. The Church began as a small group of people huddled together in fear from the religious and worldly powers that be. Then after the Resurrection and Pentecost this small band spent their lives and gave their lives to share the Gospel of the Risen Lord Jesus. Under great persecution and in their poverty they changed the world and took down the greatest Empire on Earth. The faith in Jesus Christ spread because of its truth and reality. It did not spread by force, please point to when you think this happened and where. It was also not the only game in town, when do you think this was? You could always have been an atheist, but again no body would ever freely choose that.

Quote: FrGamble

What is laughable is your understanding of Church history .

Uh huh. And you still have yet to
reply to that very long and well
researched article I sent you last
year that gives blow by blow details
of how the Church amassed it's
vast fortune, starting in the Dark Ages.

The article has a ton of footnotes and
references, and it almost goes decade
by decade on how these men took
what they wanted, and just like the Mafia,
ruled with an iron fist. But that's not the
story you were told, and it's certainly
not the story you want to project.

The Dark Ages are the "Dark Ages" for a reason. You do recognize that the Church did not start there nor does it exist there today? You seem to think that the way some Church leaders lived in the Middle Ages is how the Church began and how the Church exists today and that is so far from the truth as to be laughable.

Yeah long ago they made threats about hellfire and brimstone, made promises with no evidence, but gave you free beer for attending.

Now there ain't no free beer.