So, just what are we talking about?

[kandrathe]

So there are limitations on what we can currently observe, prove, and explain, is that so unreasonable?

I think when you are asking about or debunking "Is there such a thing as spirituality, or spirit? " Then the existence of credible examined unexplained cases of "spirits" or "possession" are appropriate examples. I think it is profound if anyone could deduce convincingly that such a non-corporeal essence did exist. Why? Because it then indicates that there may be such a thing as a spirit. It has only been recently (last 50 years) that the existence of spirit has been broadly questioned by science. And, of course as you note, there are so many crack pots and charlatans out to make a buck that it strains the credibility of any paranormal investigations. Take UFO sightings. 99.99% of them may be entirely bogus and fabricated, but even if one is true then the implications are staggering. Its not incredulous to think that we are not alone in the universe, that other solar systems may have evolved such as ours did. What we consider incredulous is that any other extraterrestrials may be advanced enough to travel through space and want to come here (without completly destroying us).

Just to be fair, there are also many cases when "science" is proven to be fabricated, or just plain wrong (not many credible cases of Mad Scientists these days though). Scientists then develop a new theory to replace the one debunked. Beliefs (even scientific ones) are generally held, until some new belief comes along that is better than the old one. Even then, it is sometimes very hard to get people to move to the new belief. So why shouldn't there be spirits? It's not disproved. It's a belief as old as history, and still widely held.