Magicians and belief (vote only if your a magician)

[ranmaonehalf]

First im not sure where this should go so if a mod thinks it need to be moved please do.

OK im curious If you are a magician whether amateur or professional, what is your religion or lack of one?

Please vote only if your a magician.

From my experience the majority of magicians are skeptics and often atheists or agnostics as well.

One reason I enjoy magic is because Its interesting to see how people allow themselves to trick themselves. One reason I think many magicians arent religious is due to this insight of trickery.

Please post any comments as well as thoughts.
I am interested in why your a magician as well as how it affects your religious thinking (or lack of).
What is your religion if you have one?
Do you believe in the supernatural?
Are you a skeptic?

 

[Tenka]

You wanna see a magic trick?

But seriously, how many magicians are you anticipating? There are probably 3 dozen regular posters in this section and if even one of them were a magician it would be an unprecedented overrepresentation of the population.

 

[ranmaonehalf]

stupid reset.
We had at least 3 pages of replies.. Your bad card trick deleted days worth of replies for all posts. Argh... JOKER!!!

 

[Nathan45]

He didn't delete anything, he postd that on the 27th didn't he?

The impression i get is that they had some kind of data-integrity issue and they had to restore from a backup from the 27th.

 

[ranmaonehalf]

lol ya missed the joke didnt ya.

 

[Everlasting33]

I don't know how many magicians are on this board but I am guessing very few. But it would be cool to go see a magician's act...I haven't been since a child.

 

[FedererFan]

I'm sorry that I can't vote because I'm not a magician, but did the title of this thread remind anyone of that episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where Cheryl's nephew won't tell Larry how to do his trick because Larry's not a magician? Haha.

I think that a lot of magicians would see their "craft" as entertainment and separate it completely from any religious views so they would have no impact on each other. I'm not sure that the fact that they are "tricky" makes them unable to be religious. If that were the case, many lawyers would probably not be able to be religious

 

[ranmaonehalf]

I'm sorry that I can't vote because I'm not a magician, but did the title of this thread remind anyone of that episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where Cheryl's nephew won't tell Larry how to do his trick because Larry's not a magician? Haha.

I think that a lot of magicians would see their "craft" as entertainment and separate it completely from any religious views so they would have no impact on each other. I'm not sure that the fact that they are "tricky" makes them unable to be religious. If that were the case, many lawyers would probably not be able to be religious

Sigh its tobad so many of the posts were losts. We had maybe 12 magicians posts... WHERE ARE YOU.....


Skepticism I think is often a part of magicians mindset and I am curious how many magicians are skeptical and if it affects there religion or views on the supernatural.

 

[MagicSteve]

I am both a professional magician and Christian. I have found that many magicians are either religious or very sceptic. The more we delve into our craft (especially the mentalism side of it), the more we learn about the psychology of human behaviour and way peoples minds and beliefs work. That can make you very sceptical of some common ministry practices within the Church.

 

[ranmaonehalf]

out of curiosity has anyone seen the kent hovind magic?

To be honest once when i was a kid going to sunday school i remember them using magic tricks (the mirror empty box) and taking stuff out of it. As i recall they tried to get us to think that jesus was behind it and that offended me at their trickery for kids. ( i was a kid at the time)

Magic Steve, what practices are your talking about? And... got a website for your trade?

 

[MagicSteve]

Magic Steve, what practices are your talking about? And... got a website for your trade?

Quite a few people use repetitive phrases and music during alter calls and prayer ministry, which is not too far away from being "suggestion" and stage hypnotism.

My Websites are Tricks For Truth (Gospel Magic Shop)
Steve Macbeth - Magical Entertainer my own site

 

[Chesterton]

I'm not a magician but I love people who are. Doing "magic" has nothing to do with religion or a lack of one. It has to do with illusions and simple tricks.

I agree.

Quite a few people use repetitive phrases and music during alter calls and prayer ministry, which is not too far away from being "suggestion" and stage hypnotism.

Using repetitive phrases is a form of magic? I guess my girlfriend is a magician. A bad one though; I've never "put on a 'nice' shirt" or told her "what I'm thinking about".