Originally Posted by: earthman buck
I think more people should believe in what they feel is right, rather than just stick to the religion they were raised on. If they research other theories or ideas and wind up coming back to their original faith, fair enough, but at least investigate a little bit. Give other faiths a chance. There's absolutely no need to pigeon-hole yourself into one set of beliefs and look down upon all others.

For me, Earthman's hit it right on the head. At risk of sounding like a raving preacher-man here, I believe that everybody - EVERYBODY, all human beings, whether they know/believe it or not - finds their own path to God, through their own set of beliefs. As far as I'm concerned, God appears to everyone in different ways; a religion, organised or otherwise, is simply there to guide individuals on their path to God. I, for example, am a Catholic; that is the religion I have chosen to help me find God, and it's no more or less valid as a means of doing so than any other. Religion is a collective thing, but it is also deeply individual, if that makes any sense. I guess the answer to your question is that everybody has their own individual standard of proof as far as faith is concerned: it depends on the path to eternal inner peace that individuals choose, be that Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Jainism, Wicca, Agnosticism, Humanism, or even an atheist set of values - whatever, it's different for everybody, I suppose.

Sorry if I ruffled any feathers.