My favorite criticism of organized religion was the scene with the grand inquisitor in Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov". In it, Jesus returns to redeem the world and begin the salvation of mankind. Shortly after returning and announcing his intentions, Jesus is arrested by the inquisition and taken to the Grand Inquisitor. They talk for a few moments, and then the Inquisitor says (paraphrase) "I'm not sure if you're Jesus or not, although I think you very well might be, but in either case I must execute you. For if you are not Jesus, then you are a blasphemer and should be put to death. But if you are Jesus, you have come at the wrong time and must be put to death also before you wreck everything. What you offer the people is freedom, and people don't want freedom - they want answers. This is what the church gives them. Freedom is too scary.
My father, James B Jacobs is a professor of law at NYU. A few years ago he published an empirical study on gun control in the united states. Being an academic book it did not sell anywhere close to what, say, a Tom Clancy novel might. But more than that, when he asked me after I'd read it if I thought it would make any difference, I told him no - people don't want the truth they almost always are happier burying their heads in the sand.
In my opinion people have always been and will always be irrational. My question : In a universe that, on an atomic level is basically made up of less than 100 things with laws of physics that control all their interactions, how is all this irrationality possible?
Tom Jacobs
