TIME is reporting on a survey that reveals that 55% of Americans believe they have been watched over by a guardian angel at least once in their life. The article clarifies that this is not the fraction of the population that merely believes in guardian angels, rather they believe to have experienced the protection of one.
The survey also included questions about being spoken to directly by god and miraculous healing, but these received far less support than guardian angels. So what causes people to draw the line between guardian angels and miraculous healing? Both seem equally ridiculous and impossible to me.
It's funny how these people are so ready to believe something like protective fairies for which no physical evidence would exist even if they were real, but as soon as you up the ante to something like divine healing for which you would have hard proof (and there is none) they don't believe.
I guess that means they're partway there. They're applying a very low level of skepticism, which hopefully can be cultivated and grown until they're actually reasonable.
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Hey, I just found your blog, 'cause it's awesome enough to have been linked to from _Pharyngula_. I notice we share a lot of the same interests--I've got an undergrad degree in evolutionary biology, and I'm a grad student in biology. Wouldn't quite call myself a microbiologist, but I study foraminifers, which are pretty close to micro. I notice that just about all of my interests line up with yours, and I also got bit by the blogging bug recently. Come by and check it out: http://fardelsborne.blogspot.com/. And keep up the good work on _your_ blog--I'll be bookmarking it for regular reading!
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