I'm running about two to three days behind the mail so some of my posts
may seem a bit out of time.
JS> > The believer is making a claim when he says that a UFO he saw was
  > > an alien spacecraft.  However, the skeptic is ALSO making a claim
  > > when he says that that the UFO was a weather balloon.  Or that
  > > USAF officers didn't investigate a specific UFO sighting.  Or that
  > > nobody, in the centuries-long history of telescopes, has ever seen
  > > a UFO through one.  If one person is required to back up his
  > > claim, why isn't the other?
JS>Troy, I have to agree with Ron on this one. ...But there are ways to
  >avoid the demands for evidence with key phrases like "What if," and
  >"It could be" or "Maybe" or "IMHO." As long as the believer sticks
  >to his disclaimers that he is only speculating, there is no need for
  >the skeptic to make demands for evidence. ;-)
Jack, I think you've noted a very significant thing here.  "As long as
the believer sticks to his disclaimers...".  If only they would!   Its
when they don't, and that is often, that we skeptics feel compelled to
ask for substantiation.  Somehow it makes US feel obligated to stand up
for what we perceive as "common sense".
To me, there is a wide margin of difference in the phrases, "I saw an
alien spaceship", and "I don't know what that thing was, but I gotta
believe it was from outer space".
Ron
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