| Faith is an act of unreason - it means giving up thinking
and going on hunches and intuition and leaving thought behind.Faith does
not require any tests of what it believes - Reason on the other hand demands
that the speculations it may make be tested
and be found to be true
before being
accepted as a truth.Anyone who decides how the world works by faith has
lost the capacity to think coherently because they are presuming things without
requiring evidence or proof.
Subj: Print Edition e-zine: The science of belief
30 January 2006
SPECIAL REPORT: BEYOND BELIEF
Is religious belief a part of human nature? Why did it evolve? When did we
start believing in gods? Why do so many people believe in the paranormal?
In this 12-page special report, New Scientist examines the science of belief.
While some hard-line atheists believe religion is the root of all evil, the
very antithesis of science, and certainly not a proper subject for scientific
inquiry, a growing number of researchers think otherwise, and the study of
belief in all its forms has become a very hot topic...more
WE BELIEVE
Religious belief is a conundrum. In our everyday lives, most of us make at
least some effort to check the truth of claims for ourselves. Yet when it
comes to religion, studies show that we are most persuaded by stories that
contradict the known laws of physics, such as
tales of supernatural
beings walking on water and raising the dead. Why are we humans so willing
to commit to religious beliefs we can never hope to verify? Now it seems,
there are at least four very good evolutionary reasons...more
GLAD TO BE GULLIBLE
You pick up the phone and give someone a call. They answer, exclaiming that
they were just in process of emailing you! Do you immediately put it down
to some paranormal explanation, or do you blame a more mundane alternative
such as coincidence? It all depends on whether you are a sheep or a goat.
Sheep tend to believe in the paranormal while goats do not. Which is it better
to be? It turns out that the kind of thinking involved in paranormal belief
helps us carry out a range of important tasks: the sheep may be onto
something...more
PARTICLES OF FAITH
It may never have literally moved a mountain, but belief has created plenty
of other dramatic effects. Take Madeleine Rizan. By the time she bathed in
the water of Lourdes, she had been paralysed for 24 years, yet apparently
she regained her ability to move. Then there's the women who stop menstruating,
grow a round belly and begin to lactate, in the mistaken belief they are
pregnant. What is going on inside our brains and bodies when we believe?
Exactly what is the biological basis of belief? There seem to be at least
two lines of thinking...more
PLUS: THE QUANTUM COCKTAIL
Physicist Frank Steglich is watching a small crystal flout the traditional
precepts of physics. This crystal, a cocktail of ytterbium, rhodium and silicon,
is conducting electricity, but no one knows how. Common wisdom says that
when electricity flows through a material, it's the electrons that do the
job. But as Steglich and his colleagues cool their crystal down toward absolute
zero under a strong magnetic field, the electrons come to a halt, unable
to move. The experiment suggests that the electrons may even be splitting
apart. And yet the current keeps flowing. How? The answer may solve some
of the most important riddles in physics...more
http://www.newscientist.com/archive.ns
© Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd. 2006
"Kissing Hank's [Butt]" (or "The logic of Christians"
- for "Hank" read "God")
This morning there was a knock at my door. When I answered the door I found
a well groomed, nicely dressed couple. The man spoke first:
John: "Hi! I'm John, and this is Mary."
Mary: "Hi! We're here to invite you to come kiss Hank's [butt] with us."
Me: "Pardon me?! What are you talking about? Who's Hank, and why would I
want to kiss His [butt]?"
John: "If you kiss Hank's [butt], He'll give you a million dollars; and if
you don't, He'll kick the [crap] out of you."
Me: "What? Is this some sort of bizarre mob shake-down?"
John: "Hank is a billionaire philanthropist. Hank built this town. Hank owns
this town. He can do whatever he wants, and what He wants is to give you
a million dollars, but He can't until you kiss his [butt]."
Me: "That doesn't make any sense. Why..."
Mary: "Who are you to question Hank's gift? Don't you want a million dollars?
Isn't it worth a little kiss on the [butt]?"
Me: "Well maybe, if it's legit, but..."
John: "Then come kiss Hank's [butt] with us."
Me: "Do you kiss Hank's [butt] often?"
Mary: "Oh yes, all the time..."
Me: "And has He given you a million dollars?"
John: "Well no. You don't actually get the money until you leave town."
Me: "So why don't you just leave town now?"
Mary: "You can't leave until Hank tells you to, or you don't get the money,
and He kicks the [crap] out of you."
Me: "Do you know anyone who kissed Hank's [butt], left town, and got the
million dollars?"
John: "My mother kissed Hank's [butt] for years. She left town last year,
and I'm sure she got the money."
Me: "Haven't you talked to her since then?"
John: "Of course not, Hank doesn't allow it."
Me: "So what makes you think He'll actually give you the money if you've
never talked to anyone who got the money?"
Mary: "Well, he gives you a little bit before you leave. Maybe you'll get
a raise, maybe you'll win a small lotto, maybe you'll just find a twenty-dollar
bill on the street."
Me: "What's that got to do with Hank?"
John: "Hank has certain 'connections.'"
Me: "I'm sorry, but this sounds like some sort of bizarre con game."
John: "But it's a million dollars, can you really take the chance? And remember,
if you don't kiss Hank's [butt] He'll kick the [crap] out of you."
Me: "Maybe if I could see Hank, talk to Him, get the details straight from
him..."
Mary: "No one sees Hank, no one talks to Hank."
Me: "Then how do you kiss His [butt]?"
John: "Sometimes we just blow Him a kiss, and think of His [butt]. Other
times we kiss Karl's [butt], and he passes it on."
Me: "Who's Karl?"
Mary: "A friend of ours. He's the one who taught us all about kissing Hank's
[butt]. All we had to do was take him out to dinner a few times."
Me: "And you just took his word for it when he said there was a Hank, that
Hank wanted you to kiss His [butt], and that Hank would reward you?"
John: "Oh no! Karl has a letter he got from Hank years ago explaining the
whole thing. Here's a copy; see for yourself."
From the desk of Karl
1. Kiss Hank's [butt] and He'll give you a million dollars when you leave
town.
2. Drink only in moderation.
3. Kick the [crap] out of people who aren't like you.
4. Eat right.
5. Hank dictated this list Himself.
6. The moon is made of green cheese.
7. Everything Hank says is right.
8. Wash your hands after going to the bathroom.
9. Don't use alcohol.
10. Eat your weiners on buns, no condiments.
11. Kiss Hank's [butt] or He'll kick the [crap] out of you.
Me: "This appears to be written on Karl's letterhead."
Mary: "Hank didn't have any paper."
Me: "I have a hunch that if we checked we'd find this is Karl's
handwriting."
John: "Of course, Hank dictated it."
Me: "I thought you said no one gets to see Hank?"
Mary: "Not now, but years ago He would talk to some people."
Me: "I thought you said He was a philanthropist. What sort of philanthropist
kicks the [crap] out of people just because they're different?"
Mary: "It's what Hank wants, and Hank's always right."
Me: "How do you figure that?"
Mary: "Item 7 says 'Everything Hank says is right.' That's good enough for
me!"
Me: "Maybe your friend Karl just made the whole thing up."
John: "No way! Item 5 says 'Hank dictated this list himself.' Besides, item
2 says 'Use alcohol in moderation,' Item 4 says 'Eat right,' and item 8 says
'Wash your hands after going to the bathroom.' Everyone knows those things
are right, so the rest must be true, too."
Me: "But 9 says 'Don't use alcohol.' which doesn't quite go with item 2,
and 6 says 'The moon is made of green cheese,' which is just plain wrong."
John: "There's no contradiction between 9 and 2, 9 just clarifies 2. As far
as 6 goes, you've never been to the moon, so you can't say for sure."
Me: "Scientists have pretty firmly established that the moon is made of
rock..."
Mary: "But they don't know if the rock came from the Earth, or from out of
space, so it could just as easily be green cheese."
Me: "I'm not really an expert, but I think the theory that the Moon was somehow
'captured' by the Earth has been discounted*. Besides, not knowing where
the rock came from doesn't make it cheese."
John: "Aha! You just admitted that scientists make mistakes, but we know
Hank is always right!"
Me: "We do?"
Mary: "Of course we do, Item 5 says so."
Me: "You're saying Hank's always right because the list says so, the list
is right because Hank dictated it, and we know that Hank dictated it because
the list says so. That's circular logic, no different than saying 'Hank's
right because He says He's right.'"
John: "Now you're getting it! It's so rewarding to see someone come around
to Hank's way of thinking."
Me: "But...oh, never mind. What's the deal with weiners?"
Mary blushes.
John: "Weiners, in buns, no condiments. It's Hank's way. Anything else is
wrong."
Me: "What if I don't have a bun?"
John: "No bun, no weiner. A weiner without a bun is wrong."
Me: "No relish? No mustard?"
Mary looks positively stricken.
John shouts: "There's no need for such language! Condiments of any kind are
wrong!"
Me: "So a big pile of sauerkraut with some weiners chopped up in it would
be out of the question?"
Mary sticks her fingers in her ears."I am not listening to this. La la la,
la la, la la la."
John: "That's disgusting. Only some sort of evil deviant would eat that..."
Me: "It's good! I eat it all the time."
Mary faints.
John catches Mary. "Well, if I'd known you were one of those I wouldn't have
wasted my time. When Hank kicks the [crap] out of you I'll be there, counting
my money and laughing. I'll kiss Hank's [butt] for you, you bunless cut-weinered
kraut-eater."
With this, John dragged Mary to their waiting car, and they sped off. |
