During Philosophy 100, the instructor conducted an exercise with our class. He announced: "I don't believe there is a god. Now convince me I am wrong." The class enthusiastically hurled logical reasons at him for the existance of a god. He repeatedly responded, "I don't believe there is a god."
He used the excercise to demonstrate this point: that beliefs trump facts. Put another way, facts won't necessarily make a person change his mind (his beliefs). We read an example of that human tendancy this week in the writing of Nick Farrell at The Inquirer, a brash technology news site in the British tradition.
In 2003, Bill Gates offered $9 million over ten years to help develop the concept of Cascadia -- a transportation system that would serve a region consisting of British Columbia (Canada), Washington, and Oregon (USA). Considering that the USA won't take British Columbia's lumber, wheat, or cows, I think the ecumenical project is doomed.
(Historically, the USA and Canada spent years negotiating the western end of their border: the USA wanted the land up to the edge of Alaska, while Canada want the land down to Oregon. The famous 49th Parallel become the compromise border. Cascadia is named after the mountain range that runs through the province and the two states, the Cascades in the USA and the Coastal Range in Canada.)
Nick Farrell notes that the Cascadia project is also sponsored by The Discovery Institute of Seattle WA:
"The Discovery Institute is a right wing think tank of boffins who believe that God created the world in seven days, because the bible told them so. ("Boffin" is British for scientist.)
That's where Nick Farrel's beliefs trump the facts, as he admits in his next sentance:
Although most of its literature on its website plays this aspect down a bit, it has been hitting the headlines at the moment.
The Institute's Web site fails describe itself as run by Bible-believing creation-literalists, but the facts don't hinder Nick Farrel's belief system.
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