I've been re-watching "The Path" (because I have no new shows to solo-watch), and it's really amazing to me just how much I misunderstood religion for most of my life. When I watched this show the first time I was frustrated, asking WHY these people gave a shit whether or not some "miracle" happened. Why were they fixated on this irrelevant detail??

I thought most religious people didn't care about the magical stories, just took them as metaphor and joined because they liked the moral code and wanted to become a better person through it. It is just laughable how much that is not true, I'm realizing, thinking about people who are invested in the idea that it is "historical fact" that Jesus rose from the dead etc.

There's a line in the show where a skeptical character is talking about these "cultists" who believe that their leader did miracles, and compares that to believing in Jesus' miracles. The person listening says "well that's different, because it actually happened." I was so struck by that reaction.

I still can't get over the fact that people think the ability to do magic is a reason to follow someone's teachings, or to believe that someone is telling the truth.