As a fellow Lutheran from the Midwest I think you've done a good job in this thread at representing a minority opinion on this forum.

I was brought up amongst and by religious people too, so I don't automatically assume people are stupid for having beliefs. But I'm aware that is really just a rhetorical position on my part, and when faced with someone who claims to be a scientist, living in the west in the 21st century, and who actually believes this stuff (e.g. the afterlife) then it is just difficult to take them seriously. That makes me vulnerable to accusations of having a closed mind, etc, I know...but I stopped believing in those things (if I ever did) around the same time I stopped believing in Father Christmas, so you'll have to cut me some slack :) And you actually make it worse when you justify your beliefs by saying that they make the Universe a "nicer" place to live in, which is just juvenile (I can imagine even nicer universes, would you like to believe in them instead?). I would stop at your previous statement about not needing to rationalise belief (in fact it's a category error to do so).

>and when faced with someone who claims to be a scientist, living in the west in the 21st century, and who actually believes this stuff (e.g. the afterlife) then it is just difficult to take them seriously

Is this something you have to do regularly, make judgements on scientists based on their speculations of an afterlife?

Wouldn't it be far better to make judgments based on their contribution to their field?

Does this mean we should not take Francis S. Collins seriously?

I don't know your familiarity with the Bible, but there's nothing in it that tells us to not seek knowledge, there is nothing in it that tells us never to question creation. The way I look at it: If a God did indeed create us, and intended us to be his savage servants for life, he wouldn't have created us with a mind capable of excelling beyond that state.

I don't want to get into a huge theological thing, my policy on this is always the same: You do you, I'll do me, and we'll get along fine. If we get to a point where we can find out what the afterlife is, if it exists, then we can re-evaluate beliefs at that point, but I don't think we're anywhere close to that, so until then I'll keep my faith and all I ask is the respect that anyone else would deserve.

People need things to comfort them. Parent's believe in an afterlife is obviously a comforting thought for them. I wouldn't call that being juvenile so much as being human.

Is it actually irrational to believe in something if your evidence is 'I just know it because God told me'?