I looked up religion videos on this website TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and is a really cool website that contains talks from TED conferences by great speakers and intellectuals. This is the page of talks about religion. I didn't watch it yet, but there's a talk by Billy Graham. I've watched Julia Sweeney's video, which is very funny. The other one I watched, and really liked, is Michael Shermer talking about strange beliefs. He is the founder of the Skeptic Society and disproves myths and superstitions, and talks here about why we believe things and don't take into account all of the facts. He includes seeing the Virgin Mary on a grilled cheese and the sides of buildings. Also, he plays "Stairway to Heaven" backwards, and when you know what it's supposed to say, you hear it clearly. Although this talk was about strange beliefs, not normal religious beliefs, it made me wonder about that. In Julia Sweeney's talk, she recounted an experience with two young Mormons looking to teach her about their religion. She thought it was crazy, and wondered how anyone could believe it. But then she says that she can't judge. If she was hearing about Catholicism for the first time, she said that she would probably think that it's a little unbelievable as well. But so many people believe. Why? Maybe if everyone understood psychological processes, why we see things that aren't there, why we are prone to believe certain things, more people wouldn't believe scripture, at least so literally. But then again, maybe they would. Maybe some people, even in the face of evidence against them, would believe and have faith. It's something I think I would like to know more about.

Here's the Michael Shermer video from www.ted.com