As a young scientist, who began as a Catholic and become an Agnostic in High School and College, I approached the debate between theism and atheism in a way that was different from most. Although there was no direct science proof of God; lab tests, we nevertheless observe millions of people who believe this to be true. As an Agnostic this was innate to me. This second observation; why do millions believe, was a valid subject of science inquiry.
The logical question became, what makes religious people tick certain way? This then comes down to what makes anyone tick, their way?
For example, why does a transsexual firmly believe, what they believe, even if others deny this? Why are atheists willing to accept transexual, if this theoretically comes from the same basic source, but yet why cannot they accept a religious output? In other words, if something is felt as being an innate part of a person, why does the atheist only taboo certain output, but not all output? Does the same internal source also define the faith of the atheist? And does this innate thing feel stronger, as a function of group prestige?
Progressives can believe and accept an internal and/or innate source for the transsexual, even though this source is saying something different from the biological body. Why is it harder to accept if someone believes in a spiritual orientation instead of sexual orientation, that also differs from the biological body? Form and function are at odds in both cases. Why not treat both the same?
This line of reasoning led to learning about how consciousness and the mind works, since as humans, we have all have the same firmware, but differ in our innate outputs. My unique research involved inducing the firmware internally, so I could self observe and record the output from the inside. The inside data, you cannot obtain, using the traditional external science approach.
For example, pain management cannot be decided based on results from analytical instruments. There is no machine that can quantize pain for all individuals. Doctors only use these tools to define the source. After the source is defined and confirmed, they depend on internally generated data of the individual. The ask the patient to define their level of pain. This is based on internal data, they observe using feedback from sensory nerves.
The brain firmware, that define human nature and our propensities are the same way. There is feedback into the body and brain. This shows up, i apart, as nerve feedback that one can learn to interpret; gut feeling. Internal data is the best source for innate consciousness data. One cannot read the mind of the transsexual, with an machine to make sure this is innate. We have to ask them to give us their first hand data, from within. We may then try to corroborate this data using with body language and machines.
God experiences are things we get as internal data. These will not show up externally, on machines, except in rare cases. It is these experiences, projected or otherwise sensed internally; feeling, that is the common link among the faithful. It appears this data is more available in certain people based on firmware hierarchy.