magic

There's a saying in the atheist community: Everyone is an atheist about everyone else's religion. To we skeptics (atheists, agnostics, or just generally irreligious people), the assertions of Christianity and other religions are on par with the assertion there are Purple Fire Breathing Bunnies nestled in their heavenly warrens who emerge to bestow reward and punishment on their human followers. "It's ridiculous." "It's just something you made up," "It makes no sense," "You've got no evidence" are all things we skeptics say to Christians and other religious.

I realize, of course, you disagree there is a comparison. However, the attitude you would probably take towards someone claiming adherence to the Purple Fire Breathing Bunnies cult (assuming they really believe it) is the same attitude we take towards Christians and other theists. We perceive little or no difference between the two religions.

I think most Christians and Jews no longer believe in magic. But magic was an assumed reality in the Biblical era. Just think of the witches described in the Bible and the campaigns to eradicate them. Or the plagues that God, through Moses and Aaron, brought against Egypt. When Aaron threw down his staff and it turned into a serpent, Pharaoh's magicians did the same thing (before their staff-snakes got eaten, teehee). For several of the punishments Moses and Aaron brought on Egpyt (through God), Pharaoh's magicians could do the same things: turn the water into blood, bring a plague of frogs, etc. I think when it got to turning dust to gnats the magicians could not match God's power. But the prescence of magicians and the reality of magic are assumed. Divination, witchcraft, and demonic possession were all assumed realities in the Biblical era, and the Bible reflects that. However, aside from fundamentalists, modern Jews and Christians would openly mock someone claiming to have magical powers. It's ridiculous. It's just something they're making up. They've got no evidence.

It's taken for granted nowadays these witchcraft and magic are nonsense and always were. And yet witchhunts were popular throughout the late Middle Ages and Renaissance period. It is precisely because of the increase in scientific knowledge and perhaps most importantly, scientific skepticism, that has turned even the common man against the idea of magic, witchcraft, and wizardry.

But there are other supernatural realities/assertions in the Bible and Christian tradition that ordinary Christians DO still believe in, such as miracles and resurrection. However, we skeptics don't see any difference between magic and miracles, or divination and resurrection. All are equally fantastical and beyond belief. Christians asking us to respect their belief in miracles can expect the same response as if they asked us to respect their belief in magic