Rest cure

I've been here in Kilcullen for a week now, and I think I've left the barber shop apartment maybe, oh, two times. The rain and wind discourage repeats. Books, magazines, TV, public radio, and the internet keep me busy.

That controversial conference of scientists in La Jolla discussing religion/science (i.e. superstition vs reason) has eaten many hours for me. The conference, hours and hours of it, was videotaped and is available at http://beyondbelief2006.org . Some of "us" are getting a bit fed up being polite about religious objections to various aspects of science, while others strongly object to that. The rebels point out that religion is the only contesting viewpoint that one is not "allowed" to criticize.

Dawkins has led the pack with the publicity tour for his latest book, The God Delusion. He's been on so many talk shows and interviews and public lectures that it's about as hard to avoid him as Harry Potter mania. He has no patience with archaic and obsolete religious beliefs about the material world having any say in the issues of today. He admits the situation in the US is "special" (i.e. bizarre). Europeans shake their heads in disbelief at the preponderance of excessively conservative believers here. We rank low, low, low on the list of developed nations in the percentage of our population that accepts evolution of life and us, way down with Turkey.

Of course I am in total agreement with the "fed up" scientists. I see so little familiarity with reason in my students that I cannot help but think magical thinking is so firmly trained into them by tooth fairies, easter bunnies, santa claus, and sunday school stories that they've never learned to think at all.

Aaah, but don't let's get off on that again. I have to be polite for one more semester.