Amongst all unproven phenomenas, how do 'you' choose what you believe in and what you think is 'fake'?
821992
I investigate them. I believe in a wide range such things---spirits, ghosts, demons, elves, lephrachauns, faeries, pixies, dragons, sasquatches, aliens, non-organic beings, etc. I have investigated all of these thinsg and experienced them with my own senses. \nHowever, for many people it wishful thinking. For example many people come to find these creatures through a fantasy that they exist--because they want them to exist. Howver cultural pressures also play a part in it. Many people believe in god just because their parents did and everyone else they know does.
269802
A belief in god based on logic is an oxymoron. Logic is the filter we use to prevent myths from becoming confused with reality. Everything that can be observed and tested for is natural. Therefore by definition, the supernatural must be IMAGINED to exist.
908666
Believing is one thing.  Knowing is another.  As most people have said in here, yes you can believe in whatever you want.  That doesn't make it the truth.  And NO, not everyone has to believe in something.  What everyone should have is the knowledge of the truth and the openmindedness to receive the truth.  Not mumbo jumbo from books that you just accept as your truth.
1007397
I am the only one that can decide what is real for me. I am the one that creates my reality. Everyone has their own perception of what is going on in this world or what their connection with a force unseen is. I just worry about my own perception and try to understand others. No need to push no need to argue.\nLove & Light\nSharon\nOne Planet = One People
395801
You can believe--or not believe--in anything you choose. It's nobody's business but your own. However, there are some people in the world who are profoundly insecure in their faith, and are simultaneously laboring under the delusion that they have all the answers. How lucky for them; it must make one's life easy to have all the answers all the time. And since they feel they have the answers, they feel threatened by questions that challenge their pre-fabricated worldview. These types of people are unable to see shades of grey, so their world is a very two-dimensional black-and-white place. Arguing with them is an exercise in futility, so the best that you can do is wish them peace and carry on with your life.
269209
Trusting and further developing your intuition leads to being psychic.\n\nThe more you trust your hunches the stronger your psychic ability will get. \n\nFor the believers no proof is necessary, for the skeptics no proof is enough. I’m happy for both the believers and the skeptics. I’m not here to convert anyone. I have my own evidence you need to get yours, if you want to that is.
599107
Dont worry about it !! \n\nChristianity is fake & illogical anyway !!
459678
No, I lack belief in all gods that I've come across so far. It's not possible for me to believe in something if I haven't seen/experienced/perceived anything that makes me think it exists.\n\nTo akpajuju, what if you believed in the wrong god and that god treated idolatry much worse than simply lacking belief? Or what if there is a god that respects honest lack of belief due to never having seen any evidence, but condemns insincere profiteering people who "believe just in case"? You're no "safer" than an atheist. Also it isn't a choice, I can no more choose to believe a god exists than I can choose to believe I'm sat on the back of a unicorn right now.
560870
Aha, So you have discovered one of the roots of existential angst! Existentialists believe that a perfect form for every idea exists in the universe, whether it has been put into words or not. This is a difficult argument to make because its basis is that if the idea exists, then the thing the idea represents exists, a huge leap.\n  Simply stating a disbelief in a philosophical construct does not validate the existence of the construct. One may argue for the validity or invalidity of the construct based on empirical evidence in support of one's position, however the conceptualiziton of an idea does not thereby bring it into reality. In order for your hypothesis to be valid we would have to accept that something exists because we had the idea for it to exist. To show that this is false one need only point to the Empire state building which, as an idea, did not exist in reality until bricks and mortar were set. If the idea were the reality, then every criminal act ever concieved in ones mind and not acted upon would make one guilty of the concieved act.\n   Comitting oneself to an Atheistic viewpoint is a comittment to a belief which is not possible to prove or disprove beyond redoubt, it is therefore an act of Faith in ones position. Atheists DENY the existence of a  supreme being. If on the other hand, one chooses to neither accept or reject the existence of a supreme being, one is considered an Agnostic. An Agnostic is one who neither believes nor disbelieves, they simply do not make a choice. Belief in God is a choice just as disbelief is a choice, that is the basis for free will.
86659
You cant. What you are seeing is an illusion. You are the only think that is real in the universe.\n\nJust kidding.\n\nThe above concept, by the way, is called Solipsism, i believe, that you are the only thing that is real, and all else is an illusion.\n\nBut seriously, the only way you can believe anything is to test out the theory that it is true. So, test out the theory that what you see is truly there. If you can touch it, taste it, experience it, then even if it is not there objectively, it is there subjectively, which is all that is important.
397894
If you're going to believe in God it has to come about from your own experiences. It has to be based in your own faith and trust. Im at the point where I think there is a spirit world but not necassarily a higher power, but sometimes I go back to thinking there is a higher power but not necessarily the conventional god. I think hes probably a sarcastic bastard if hes up there.
235521
You can't fake it.\nIf you've ever performed or observed a courageous act, use it as a basis.
36349
Kind of broad and non-descript.\nHow about a belief not based upon absolute truth.
670916
Well, yes, it may be Normal.  But you have to consider if it's Accurate.\nYou admit you made up the goddess yourself.  So how can you believe in something that you admit is a creation of your own head?\nDon't worry about normality.  Worry about truth.
1065948
You can't.\n\nIt's all just psuedoscientific nonsense designed to get money out of suckers too ignorant to separte science from bullshit.\n\nHow can anyone be so gullible and superstitious as to believe in this voodoo in 2006?
1179547
I think we're all obliged to pass on all known facts, and all theories.\nAnd, theory is the correct choice of words for your question, IMO.\nSince neither can currently be absolutely proven nor disproven by 'scientific' standards, both of them are theories (or beliefs .. sets of information that meet personal criteria for acceptance).\n\nI lean toward God/Creation, myself. That trumps Big Bangs, etc. since God would have created that  :-)  (not that it matters to anyone but me!)
1135752
Bertrand Russell  and G.E Moore posed a similar issue many years ago when one of them suggested something like the following: Suppose you were created 5 minutes ago, complete with memories.  How would you prove what was real?\nThis has, of course, given way to many explanations and many theories of epistemology.  How do we know anything at all? Is it handed out by a great and powerful God or did matter just gel together and create mankind?\nI cannot pretend to be able to answer the question but I will suggest food for thought; in any human endeavor, we believe in something first and discover its efficacy later.  That is, we think we see something before our eyes, say as a child, and then we figure out how to reach out and grab it.  In this way, babies discover that they can reach their rattles and blankets and Mommy, but they cannot reach the window, the sky or the ceiling fan.  As adults, we learn to use the keyboard by pressing buttons and testing the results.  However if you wish to suggest that there might not be any keyboards in existence, I would give you a funny look and ask what you meant.\nHence I am suggesting that your question is turned upside down:  we do, in fact, each of us, believe that matter exists and has existed for some time.  While some believe in God as the prime cause, others believe in some sort of eternal material goo which somehow, and somewhat embarrassingly, developed a spiritual nature that ended up as mankind.  In both cases, what gives us comfort in our lives often leads us to our conclusions about beginnings rather than the reverse.\nLastly, when we are angry with the actions of others, we usually take it out on ourselves.  As Montaigne suggested, more blood has been spilled in the name of God than by any other cause.  Frankly, I don't see how we could blame God for that any more than we can blame him for not giving us the answers we demand.  I think His purpose might have been to teach us how ridiculous we are when we act in an immoral way, but judging by the present state of things, perhaps that isn't working all that well.  The state of the world today is better explained by the primoridial goo theory and the spirit of human beings? Maybe it's just a terminal case of a bad design flaw.  Of course it could just be bad personal behavior and unending greed, but lots of people would have trouble with an absolute morality.  By this time, maybe God does too!\nThink of this, the next time you get the urge to wonder about something: an atheist is, by definition, someone who denies the existence of something which doesn't exist.