From: "Mark K. Bilbo" 

On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 21:22:22 -0400, stumper wrote:

> Geoff wrote:
>> "stumper"  wrote in message
>> news:FfmdnS0-MqkOxZzbnZ2dnUVZ_sWdnZ2d{at}ptd.net...
>>> bill.m.thomas{at}gmail.com wrote:
>>>> stumper  wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> What if someone feels a lot better
>>>>> every time she prays to God for a while?
>>>> In the end delusions are harmful.
>>> Is that your faith?
>>>
>>> If not, where is your proof?
>>
>> No proof is possible (i.e. it's not math)...but the efficacy of prayer has
>> been studied.
>>
>> Hypothesis: prayer is effective
>> Null hypothesis: prayer is ineffective
>>
>> No experimental data has ever been observed and replicated such that the
>> null hypothesis can be rejected.
>>
>> These experiments are constantly repeated, however, because theists are
>> ultimately optimistic that all the time they  have spent on their knees has
>> not been in vain.
>>
>>
>
> We are talking about your assertion
> that "In the end delusions are harmful."
>
> How are you going to prove it?

Well, you are exhibit one...

--
Mark K. Bilbo                a.a. #1423
EAC Department of Linguistic Subversion
------------------------------------------------------------
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed
(and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless
series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
- H. L. Mencken

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