Reply #2: First, this style is preferable to your usual [View All]

[Warpy]

Second, to cope with the operative paragraph:

"In a community of believers, does one gain an advantage if others think that one believes?" Of course. Misery may love company, but belief demands it.

"Does one risk punishment if others think that one disbelieves?" You bet. The least you an expect is an intervention by well meaning believers to help you solidify your faith. Stoning, the ducking stool and the stake have waited for other unbelievers at other times.

"A community of believers might, without intending to, reward insincere profession of belief. Actually, that might be inevitable." It is in my experience. I discovered hypocrisy as a means of survival in Catholic school by the time I was out of second grade.

"Perhaps the true test of loyalty is not belief, but desire for the dogma to be true. From the point of view of the high authorities associated with a given system of dogma, a simple believer might be a mere fool." "Fools for Christ" wear the label proudly, and wishful thinking is a huge component of a lot of faith, IMO. People are simply terrified to question, to consider alternatives because they are frightened. Certainty is a powerful motivator for a lot of people.

Finally, if matters of faith could be proven, there would be no need for faith. God would disappear in a puff of logic as he did when confronted with the Babel fish in "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."