Well, I also find it strange (not weird, exactly, but just alien to my own mindset) that people actually *believe*, but what I am saying is that when I think about the Gospel narrative, I think the remarkableness of the story is its most compelling aspect. John's version of Jesus seems also to believe this, since he goes around performing miracles all the time (as opposed to teaching through parables, which seems to be his preference in the other Gospels). It's sort of akin to Giles's notion that if you're going to tell a lie, it's more "honest" to tell a real whopper than just to prevaricate -- similarly, what is the value added in believing a fictional story if it's perfectly plausible?

I'm talking here specifically about the Gospel narrative, and not the concept of believing in God, which requires a much more (IMO) narcissistic ability to believe that some higher power is looking out for you (or at least looking *at* you) personally, and ordering the universe in a deliberate fashion that involves you in some personal way. I find it less easy to "relate to" believing in God as a concept than I do to "relate to" the idea of buying into the Gospels as a narrative, which is how I've always read Miranda's statement -- as pertaining to the Nativity story specifically, not the Christian (or any) religion as a whole.