Is Mise, I will 'pray' alongside anyone if I thought it would ease their mind and give them comfort, because I know religion is needed by many people, especially the sick.

However, I have seen many unexplained 'cures' in my time that didn't happen at the dodgy 'Lourdes' waters.

Just because science today can't explain why some people seem to survive certain illnesses while most don't, does not prove that any invisible god or two 'caused' it.
There are many instances in medical history where someone has made a 'miraculous' recovery, only to find out much later that there was a reasonable explanation for it.

No one can either dispute or support the dodgy claims at Lourdes because none of us has the true details and none of us are aware just how powerful the Catholic Church and it's far-reaching tentacles are....

Suse,

Why do you consider the Lourdes claims dodgy?

Do you have any credible references to this dodginess?

'Gee! I saw Jesus and a few Angels in the garage this morning,, a ray of light was shining through the window, a miracle, perhaps I can commercialise the whole thing and make my garage turn into that lovely thing called money, will have statues every where. of what I saw, I am sure I will have many come to pray. '

probably a result of gw religion Ojnab. I saw Bob Brown speaking to martians one day. Just like drugs, the gw faith seems to spark psychotic events.

Suseonline, i noticed you did not answer my polite question?

i also noticed that none of the other obviously left wing, atheist, or secular humanist commentators ever even tried to answer my question about whether the behaviour, or sociopsychopathy of these groups matches the groupthink of a radical, extreme religious cult.

please try to answer that question, if you can.

such as yourself and Suse
is Mise,
I am at a loss why you expect us to disprove something that you can't prove ? Miracles a Lourdes ? That's a beat up by the Church to entrapp the gullible. How many sufferers do not get healed at Lourdes & why not ? Are they all so bad that God doesn't think they deserve being relieved of their sufferings ? Have there ever been pregnant women with deformed foetuses which were born normal after a visit to Lourdes ?
There may well be unexplained incidences but to call them miracles is simply a step too far. To me a miracle would be if suddenly all the hyprocrites became benevolent, that would indeed be a miracle. Could you see yourself change ?

>>Why do we need a definition of ‘religion’ at all? <<

Because if religion is given some privileges without the terms being clearly defined then anything could claim to be a religion and ask for privileges, or everybody could found his/her own religion and claim. Alternatively, if religion is denied any privileges, and neither the term “religion” nor “privileges” are clear, all sorts of things could be denied to groups of people that the original legislation did not have in mind at all.

>>Internationally recognised Human rights as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) speak of freedom of ‘religion or belief’.<<

It speaks of many other things the definitions of which are tacitly assumed. Because it is a declaration and not a legislation or law promulgated by a governing body that can (or has to) be acted upon.