eich@uiuccsb.UUCP (11/29/83)
#R:ihuxr:-77800:uiuccsb:11900013:000:925 uiuccsb!eich Nov 29 03:12:00 1983 Well, when it comes to the fringes (and I agree the contortions would make a fakir shudder), perhaps you just have to drop the presumption in favor of rationality. There are irrational people who hold to and doggedly defend all sorts of beliefs, from super-literal Creationism through religious UFOlogy through dogmatic scientism. We don't have to debate them, and if we busy ourselves with the impossible task of refuting their every word, we'll only aggravate the situation. I am not saying that the fringes should be dismissed out of hand, or reflexively ridiculed, but I think rational people should be setting the agenda more often. What I find dismaying is the polarization, decried by Walker Percy in `Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Guide', of the religion-science debate. Religious (i.e. theistic) scientists and responsible secularists can't get a word in edgewise. Brendan Eich uiucdcs!uiuccsb!eich