Re: Proving a negative.

Well, IG, you've got me. I have simplified things a bit.
All the same, I think the point stands (it appears you think so too).

This was presented to me as the "devil in the wristwatch" argument:

"There's a devil in my wristwatch."

"Really? I can't see it."

"Well, you can't see it, or smell it, or hear it, or feel it,
or detect it in any way. This devil does nothing to affect
the world around it. There is in short no way to prove
that this devil is in my wristwatch - but it IS there."

Few people would believe the initial statement based on this "evidence".
No one could seriously expect others to believe it - yet change a few words
and this is precisely what most religions expect of us.

Throw in a long tradition and the propensity of human beings
to seek patterns, even in randomly occurring events, and it doesn't seem
so odd. Break it down to the basics, and it does.