[kstar]

FWIW, when I was younger and a "believer" I recall hearing stories about a church in Europe where a bomb came in through the ceiling but did not explode. I thought this was an amazing and convincing "sign" there was a deity.

Also, stories about churches spared in violent weather also seemed to support some level of supernatural intervention.

Once I began to question the conclusions I had arrived it, I understood that Europe has thousands of churches, many of which were destroyed by bombs. There was no evidence that churches were treated any differently than any other structure and that Europe is covered with unexploded ordinance. The unexploded bomb in that church, while at first seeming miraculous, is nothing more than what one might expect by chance.

The same can be said of churches that seem to miraculously remain standing after a storm while all of the other structures surrounding them are leveled. If one backs up from that single event, and tries to remove one's possible religious biases, one will find that it is somewhat common for storms to destroy one house, but leave the house next door undamaged . . . and that churches are very prolific across the US.

If churches or airplanes full of praying people were somehow protected and saved more often than what happens by sheer statistical chance, then I would give such occurrences, as possible evidence of an "active" deity, serious consideration and credence.

FWIW.