Anyone can claim anything.

That's right, you can claim you heard from Allah, and Muham-
mad appeared in a dream, and the only way to heaven is to
follow the Muslim faith.

But you know what?

If you were to claim such a thing, that claim is substantiated
by you, and you alone (certainly, the 1 billion or so Muslim
followers across the world would be interested in your claim,
but in reality, it's your claim and nothing but evidence can
convince those who require evidence to believe in such a
claim).

For you to take that claim and demand/claim that I should
believe or follow or act in such a way as to mate to *your*
claim is absurd.

Your claim is your burden, and yours alone.

Such is the nature of faith.

There are unknowns in fact, in the reality of that which is our
fate, but to reach in those unknowns and concoct absolutes/
answers/de facto be-all end-all ultimates which are, in fact,
nothing more than fantasies, defies reason/logic/esteem/verity.

Folks *claim* so-and-so and follow or else flows effortlessly
from their lips, but you know what? Unless *I* experience
that which folks of faith claim, their experience is meaning-
less to me.

If you are of faith, any faith ...

Yours is nothing but a call to delusion if you ask me to follow
*your* claim, no evidence required.

Such is the nature of every superstitious claim in the christian
bible.

Such is the nature of every superstitious claim in every holy
document.

Such is the final nail in the coffin of faith, for anyone can
claim anything, but claiming it does not make it so.

Think about this. If Napolean or Woodrow Wilson or any of
innumerable characters from history existed or not, there is
no threat/demand on my life. Either they existed, or they
didn't, and if a farce is involved and [many/some] characters
from the world of history apart from religions are fictitious,
no "believe or else" threats on my life are involved ...

Yet, there's this Jesus claim and, as required by that, this
God claim, and on those 2 claims alone, my life is threatened ...

Do you see how the nature of that imaginary being world differs
from the real world, when it comes to claims and history?

People claim this/that/and the other all the time. Yada yada
yada, and you know what? The key question is "What is your
evidence, and why should I believe you?"

For those of faith, they follow with "we have no evidence"
and "you should care because we believe it" ...

H-E-L-L-O ...

Earth to christians ...

Claims without evidence are empty, and, when followed
with "believe or else" threats, are anti-human ...

You offer naught to humankind when it comes to genuine
hope, for you offer nothing but threats as a prerequisite to
your hope ...

Believe or else?

Yikes - sheer lunacy, the whole faith deal.

Provide evidence of claims, stop with the threats, and get
back to me.

Otherwise, your faith (and the faith of all the other mystical
lot) shall be treated by intelligent persons of logic and reason
as evidence of primitive carryovers from superstitious humans
who had nothing more than superstition with which to deal
with a mysterious world.

We know better now, those of us able to escape the genera-
tional cycle of brainwashing still permeating our culture, at
least as applies to our culture in America and cultures steeped
in other faiths across the world.

Made up answers just don't cut it anymore, when it comes
to reality.

We can do better and better conveys a sincere effort to peel
back the layers of mystery and discover what, indeed, is the
true nature of our being.

Let's do it and let's stop the lies and pretentiousness entailed
in the cycle of deceit which is part and parcel of all faiths.

Thanks for your consideration.

Peace be with you.