[Lestat]

<font color="blue"> I think you may be confusing practicality with belief. </font>

I don't believe I am (pun intended). Look up the definition of belief. I suspect you have many more beliefs than you ever realized. If you did not actually believe a plane could stay in the air, I doubt you would ever board one. If you didn't believe your wife could remain faithful, you wouldn't have married her. Etc. etc.

Beliefs don't pop out of thin air. There is a reason for every belief you hold. Even those beliefs that you deem so trivial you are not willing to even recognize them as true beliefs.

<font color="blue">Back to the question of God and Religion. My initial statement was that unless someone had a direct, personal experience of god I don't think they have a leg to stand on. </font>

We've come full circle. I think I have shown that you do not need a personal experience to hold a rational belief. You have many beliefs for which you have no personal experience. You're just incorrectly coining them as something other than beliefs.

Btw- I'm an atheist and fully understand what you're trying to say. I'm just pointing out that you're presenting a very flawed argument. You need to find a different path. Experience is NOT the only way to arrive at a rational belief.