Jack — this article reinforces why you are one of my favorite writers on Medium. I hope you will not think me presumptuous if I add just 2 thoughts.

(1) In addition to authors you mentioned, I recommend William James’ “The Varieties of Religious Experience”. For someone as rationally pragmatic as James, he lays out many examples as to why some people (actually lots of people) believe in god and how they experience god. [He probably should have called it “The Varieties of Spiritual Experience”, but then he delivered the lectures on which the book is based in 1901–1902].

(2) There are still mysteries in the universe…and “god” is as good a shorthand or meme as any for thinking about those mysteries (IMHO). For example, scientists used to believe that the “universe” would either expand until the gravitational forces holding it together were not strong enough to maintain it…at which point the “universe” would be ripped apart OR the gravitational forces would be stronger and cause the “universe” to collapse back on itself until it was compressed into a tiny ball of matter that would then explode again in another “big bang”. However, astrophysicists now believe in “dark energy” that ‘feeds’ the continuing and accelerating expansion of the universe…perhaps infinitely. BUT, they don’t seem to have an explanation of what “dark energy” is or where it comes from. I’m happy to simply accept that it comes from “god” and let the scientists continue to try to understand it.

Keep writing…and I promise to keep enjoying your work. Thanks.