Maybe they'll end up teaching Creationism in schools now. Bush believes it, and he just got a mandate from the religious right, although not the nation.

As a fan of education, Bush's re-election is a great disappointment.

Anyway, students of economics (not that im technically one of them) know that Americas days as the Superpower are probably numbered, purely because their own economy is so wankered. When China stops buying US dollars in huge numbers then the value will drop, and others will stop buying them too.

The US will be left with a huge budget deficit, a worse trade deficit and only it's military might still to wager with. The US Empire like Britain and Spain's of times past, will fall. Although the US fall might just bring the entire Capitalist economy with it. But thats pure conjecture on my part.

What you have to understand, is that religion is safe. It's comfortable and pleasant. It gives you all the answers to the difficult questions, so inquisition and critical thought is unnecessary. The message is simple and easy to understand, and it's easy to join. You get a sense of belonging.

This is exactly why I don't like religion. It discourages discourse and rational thought, even to the extent where it suppresses rigourously any attempt to progress by finding alternatives to the dogmas laid down by the religious texts. As you rightly note, the further we get from the inception of these religious texts, the more we discover and theorise about our world, the more we question, the less believable religious doctrine gets. But many people force themselves to believe ( a phenomenon known as "cognitive dissonance"), because if they don't "have faith", then they might, just might (remember Pascal's wager) end up in a place they really don't want to be. Never mind the fact that no-one has any proof whatsoever that there IS a heaven or hell, never mind what they're like. As a wise man with a big beard once said, "Religion is the opium of the masses".

Keep questioning. Cynicism and skepticism is healthy. Besides, religion, in the scale of world history, is ephemeral - disbelief has been with us forever.

If you havent read Aronson & Pratkanis then you've read Sagan. Or perhaps your choice of words are just coincidental. Either way, yes, spot on.

Never read any of those. Maybe I should.

Your last paragraph just reads like Carl Sagan. He was very big on scepticism and science. Aronson & Pratkanis wrote an awesome book on how propaganda techniques, one of the best of which was the rationalisation trap. Invoke yea olde cognitive dissonance and thus provoke a reaction.

I cant confirm that he smoked pot, since he didnt write about it, but I wouldnt be surprised. He would definitly be the space guy. He was a dude.

Theres a section on him in "50 things you're not supposed to know" I think....