[Nate]

Despite the fact that I'm an atheist, I have tremendous respect for people who believe in god. It's not something I find myself capable of but I know that a true religious person sacrifices much for their faith and that I can respect.

That said, I think that faith should be based on truth, not superstition. Most miracles that I've ever heard of can be easily explained by your common or garden skeptic. The fact is that skeptics are always going to jump to a science conclusion and a religious person is always going to jump towards a miracle conclusion.

An example I can give; I heard a friend once give a 'proof' that ancient Hebrew is a holy language. He used the concept of gematria - each letter of the alphabet has a numerical value (a-1, b-2, c-3... j-10, k-20... s-100, t-200 etc). Now if you take any word in Hebrew and add up the value of the letters then add each digit to each other (eg 259 becomes 2+5+9=16 -> 1+6=7) that final result will either be nine or if you subtract that result from the original number then add the digits they will add up to nine (259-7=252 -> 2+5+2=9). Nine being the numerical value of the word 'Emet' - 'Truth'. Now this is a nice theory and all but it's bullshit. It'll work with any series of numbers. I faced a dilemma whether to tell the guy but I felt it was my duty to enlighten him.

And this I say to you: faith is too precious a thing to be based on a lie. Question everything. Think about everything. If your faith stands the test, that's when you know it's something worth believing in.


EDIT: When it comes to cancer, it is possible for the immune system to fight cancer cells as that body can, in some cases, recognise them as unnatural. It's just that in most cases it will kill them before you even notice they exist. Much of the current research into cancer cures is in teaching your immune system to fight the cancer cells.