Quote:
Originally Posted by tame_deuces
Generally speaking, if a ton of people say something exists... we should at least consider it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by asdfasdf32
That's not what he's said, at all. (It's almost like you stopped reading after what you quoted) He said, given that a bunch of people believe in something, it warrants searching for evidence more closely.
In other words, if a singular person claims that he saw a person come back from death, you can confidently treat them as something of a crackpot. However, if 5000 people saw the same thing, then it warrants searching for evidence more closely.
Long term and/or wide spread belief in something does nothing to make it more or less true. Facts, proof, and the ability to demonstrate and repeat via trial make something truth. Christianity isn't more or less true because a billion people believe it and its 1800 years old than Islam is true because a billion people believe it and its 1400 years old.
FWIW there are lots of beliefs that are much older than those and they also shouldn't be given any more or less credit.
