I also state every day that my dog is such a sweet dog, attributing something beyond mere survival instinct to his behavior, but very very few people make a big stink about THAT and call it irrational, or not "reasonably defensible". I make a choice about my ideology, i am aware enough and intelligent enough to know that most of a person's philosophy cannot be chosen for them from the only rational version and nothing else, because when people are learned enough to know about a wide variety of perspectives, they can usually figure out a way to make any of them make sense. Like a lawyer who realizes one can argue for the prosecution or the defense, although they probably will have a verdict of their own to some degree. I find spiritual ideas suspect, just like a lot of other people do. The difference between me and a lot of other people is that i realize these choices aren't going to be made for me, unlike certain scientific ideas that are actually forced on me by empirical data.
and before anyone says (wynn), that this is much more important than the dog, i agree, but that doesn't change the process. I am doing the best i can with the information, and feelings, and experiences, i have.