Are Rational Religious People All That Rare?

This is my response to an article written in the Huffington Post today. See the link below for the article.

If you claim to "have no idea what happens to you after you die" are you really a believer? While I respect your liberal approach to religion, it appears to be so progressiv­e as to represent agnotistic rather than theistic principles­. Is it possible that you are confusing "rational religion" with agnosticis­m? I ask this because the approach to religion that you have described appears to very much depend on doubt and logic. You see, religion is not religion if you remove the "Santa Claus" element. In order for any religion to exist its followers must believe in a supernatur­al deity: a santa claus. They must demonstrat­e faith in its existence. Remove this and you no longer have religion. You may have a movement with a fulfilling approach to life but you, by definition­, no longer have religion. I think what you are describing as "rational religion" is the gradual transition from blind faith to atheism.



In short, there is nothing rational about believing in the supernatur­al. As long as this belief is part of the definition of religion the two concepts will remain mutually exclusive.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost