ding dong the strike is gone

It's Friday afternoon, and glancing out the window shows my favourite winter precipitation - snow. I'm looking forward to reading on the bus on the way home, far preferable to driving in crappy traffic. Thanks, oh Ottawa bus drivers, for not being on strike anymore.

I'm reading Ever Since Darwin, a collection of Stephen Jay Gould essays. He's beaten up a bit for his NOMA ideas, stating that religion and science do not overlap. I think his rational was that religion is the department of the unknowable, and science is concerned with what's knowable, ergo no overlap. Too bad the fundies think religion is everything, so nothing's outside its irrational reach.

Ergo is a great word. So is ergot. A rye disease, ergot is, that made many mad. It's also used to make LSD. We had a stray cat, briefly, named ergot. It did not eat rye. We also had 2 cats that loved catnip. Is getting cats stoned bad? I'd have unambiguously said no before learning of the links between schizophrenia and marijuana. I realize correlation is not causation, but it's worth knowing that there is a link and letting your kids know, so they can decide whether a toke is worth it. Poor Michael Phelps. He won 8 gold medals - let him party in peace!

Back to NOMA. I think he was trying to find a way forwards, to let religious people focus on their needs so that science could progress, and particularly so science education could progress, without diverting time and resources into fighting idiocy. Or IDiocy, if you're talking intelligent design crap. But as religious followers have failed to embrace NOMA, it's not really a useful concept. Unless you're a religious scientist, in which case it makes compartmentalization easier.

All religions seem to have some loopy ideas, like ritualistic pseudo cannibalism, or eternal life, or reincarnation as another life form. Eternal life's a pretty good marketing ploy, though - follow us and you'll never die! Hard to beat that spiel. Think for yourself and, um, you'll, um, have self respect! Or not. I wish religion was a force for good. I think most people are good, including most religious people, but I don't see anything that convinces me that religion promotes goodness.

Here's my idea to reduce deficits. Stop giving religious organizations tax exempt status. If they have a charitable foundation, that can qualify, but they should otherwise be treated as businesses. Why should Scientology not pay tax on the sale of their de-thetanizing machines or whatever they're called? Or the Vatican on their incredible wealth? If the primary objective of a religion is charitable, then this shouldn't be an issue at all. But I suspect a lot of the income supports activities that shouldn't qualify as tax-exempt. And that includes the mainstream religions as well as the truly wingnut ones, like Scientology.

Vonnegut poked fun so well. The Church of Jesus Christ the Kidnapped is still my favourite mock faith. I must read Slapstick again. And also Catch-22. I realize that's Heller and not Vonnegut, but they both wrote brilliant satire. I wonder what Swift would have thought of fundamentalism? I bet it would have been fun to read.