Here’s the rub: reincarnation is a load of rubbish. There’s a slight problem of there being a striking lack of supporting evidence for it.
Yeah, that’s my favourite bit of Stross’ recent essay about how the media, and society in general, seems to abdicate responsibility for critical analysis in the face of religion.
Here’s another bit:
The knee-jerk instinct to bend the neck before expressions of faith is one of the more distasteful aspects of the modern media circus. It doesn’t get remarked on enough, because usually the religions being knelt before are the locally privileged belief systems; but it becomes impossible to ignore when the same privilege is extended to random superstitions that we haven’t been conditioned from infancy to respect.
Lest there is any confusion, I am personally all for you being able to believe in whatever you want, and practicing whatever you want–within the boundaries of other people’s freedoms (i.e. you God-given right to smite the unbeliever is trumped by my socially granted right not to get smote, etc.) This definitely does not mean that I have to respect your beliefs: I completely reserve the right to judge and/or mock them as I see fit. It’s just like freedom of speech: I’ll protect your right to be pro-Harper, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to call you an idiot for being so.
