In this section, we cover four fallacies that are directly related to religion: Appeal to Faith, Appeal to Heaven, Magical Thinking, and Spiritual Fallacy. It will be made clear that it is not faith, the belief in magic, Heaven, or a spiritual world that is fallacious—it is the reliance on these beliefs in place of reason in rational discourse that is fallacious.

By the end of this section, students will

• learn when faith becomes a problem in rational discourse
• learn why any person of any religion claiming to know the will of the gods is acting fallaciously
• learn that magical thinking is very common, when it helps and when it doesn't
• learn when spirituality can be a roadblock to reason