Opinion and Reality: Unverifiable Personal Gnosis

At the beginning of this month I posted the article The Devil Made Me Do It, concerning a man on trial for murdering his wife, which he claims he did while being possessed.

A reader asked if I was actually suggesting that there might be merit in the man's claims. My answer was essentially that my opinion had no relevance on the issue.

Religion is problematic to write about precisely because much of what religious people believe cannot be proven, although they themselves may have very good reason for believing. We call those reasons "unverifiable personal gnosis." It's personal knowledge that cannot be proved to others. I believe in my gods, for example, because I have experienced their presence. I can't prove that to anyone, and MY experiences are, quite frankly, a poor reason for someone else to believe in them....

Read more:  Opinion and Reality: Unverifiable Personal Gnosis @ About.com
(Sorry, I'm not allowed to publish About.com blog posts in full on other sites)