Someone suggested to me that it would be pointless trying to convince a religious person with enough conviction to blow themselves to hell (it's just an expression Marge!) - oops, sorry, I mean "to paradise" - that there is no god and they were probably right. However [and ok I'm not being completely serious - I don't really think I'd convince anyone using this (or any) argument] if I were to point out to this presumably very suggestable person, that at some point in history, a mistranslation occured and instead of 72 virgins (hmm? I wonder if it's supposed to be the same bribe for female martyrs - maybe they're not allowed - oh f*ck now there's another book I'll have to read - d'oh!), he should expect 72 white raisins of crystal clarity, would he still be so willing? The sad answer to that is probably yes.

Anyway - getting serious - I was already worried about what's happening in the States. Subville sent me the audio from an American TV show from years ago "Crossfire" where Frank Zappa expresses his observation that America was fast becoming a fascist theocracy. I think Frank would be as horrified as I was if read the following (though probably not in the least bit surprised)...

From "Letter to a Christian Nation" - Sam Harris...
"Forty-four percent of the American population is convinced that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead sometime in the next fifty years. According to the most common interpretation of biblical prophecy, Jesus will return only after things have gone horribly awry here on earth. It is, therefore, not an exaggeration to say that if the city of New York were suddenly replaced by a ball of fire, some significant percentage of the American population would see a silver lining in the subsequent mushroom cloud, as it would suggest to them that the best thing that is ever going to happen was about to happen — the return of Christ. It should be blindingly obvious that beliefs of this sort will do little to help us create a durable future for ourselves — socially, economically, environmentally, or geopolitically. Imagine the consequences if any significant component of the U.S. government actually believed that the world was about to end and that its ending would be glorious. The fact that nearly half of the American population apparently believes this, purely on the basis of religious dogma, should be considered a moral and intellectual emergency".

Far fetched? I don't think so - and although it is worrying enough that this is going on in one of the most powerful nations on this planet, I've noticed over the years that what happens in the states tends to drift across the pond - some kind of cultural osmosis or something. Only last week I ended up in a discussion with a member of "the audience" listening to someone who at first appreared to be 'a nice young man' probably not really doing any harm - WRONG! Creationist alert - cover your children's ears! The dipstick from the audience was one of them and actually had the nerve to give me "the evidence is all around you" claptrap. After having a quick look around and finding no evidence of god anywhere I said "You're going to tell me to look at that tree aren't you?" He did! Poor guy - he believes the tree was somehow designed by some kind of cosmic magician (thou will like this - but when I've finished designing pigeons - not a lot!), whereas I'm fairly certain (as certain as I am that I can't walk through a brick wall) that Darwin et al. got it right and as far as I know there is absolutely no evidence to the contrary.

I am glad to say there were no young children listening to this nutter but there could have been.

Am I being an alarmist? I hope so but if Sam Harris's 44% statistic (don't know where he got that from but I've heard similar stats from other sources) is reasonably accurate then I think I have every reason to be worried.