Carl Sagan a devil worshiper? Or worse; Sagan a devil himself? AUTHOR OF commentary: Milo

Carl Sagan a devil worshiper? Or worse; Sagan a devil himself? AUTHOR OF commentary: Milo Bennett, 07/Jan/90, Dallas, Texas. Abstract: Step with me now, if you will, away from the intellectual light and into the dark neither regions of Christian reason as we explore the science of science and the scientific method. After you climb back out of the pit, as I have, breath the clean air and wipe the grime from your clothes: It's going to be a bumpy ride. The Book: - Commentary on "What's Happening to my World?", author unknown, a Christian descriptive work on how game role playing and scientific progress expand the "Dark Ones'" reign over mankind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- While working in a Christian facility that sells audio tapes, books, video tapes, and God, at a price, I chanced across a book with a title that caught my attention: "What's Happening to my World?". The cover shows a family being torn apart by a crack in the Earth with part of the family on one side and part on the other. THE COVER of the book: Since much thought, time and money are spent on such book covers, hidden meaning behind such book covers, either in the form of subliminal "messages" or blatant visual cues that are usually not registered on the forebrain because they are discontinuities in the visual theme, were looked for. The number of family members was considered to be unimportant as was the sex of the family members separated from each other and grouped with each other so considered. There was one tree on the cover that half of the family could not reach and half that could. Many Christian and pseudo-christian organizations, (notably the Mormon cult), symbolize a "Tree of Life" from which a human may eat fruit from; said symbol being one of the word of God from which life itself somehow stems. Another aspect of the books' cover (which is the more commanding of the readers attention) is the splitting of the Earth itself. Since there is no visual indication as to the cause of the Earthly split, (no lightning bolt, hammer and wedge, or a Satan prying with a lever), it is apparent that the split is caused from within, not from without. This aspect of the books' cover indicates a belief in the "Dark Ones' Conspiracy" of which many Christians and pseudo-christians believe. At one glance, then, a pre-existing supposition of a malignant conspiracy within the Christian book buyers' mind will be gratified to find yet another authorities work enforcing like belief. The reason for the books existence is then realized as the book is purchased for a small donation to God. THE COSMOS conspiracy: Carl Sagan boors me, true. It's positive that he boors many people who have even the most limited grasp of astronomy. It's not a valid reason to brand him a devil worshiper. Worse, it's not just cause to call someone the devil; when the general population of a society come to believe such of another person, in the name of those peoples beliefs, people get killed. There is no meaning, apparently, in the admonishment "Judge not, least you be judged" - a quote solely intended to keep the innocent from being put to death without the facts being submersed in emotions. When the Cosmos series was first aired, a great many people watched. When the book came out, many people bought it. When the science fiction book "Contact" came out, many people bought that as well. Apparently, many Christian organizations watched and read Sagans' works as well or, alternately, Satan activity reports were filed against Sagan. In "What's Happening to my World", the author mentions that the view of Carl Sagan was warped by the Dark Ones' evil forces so badly that, even when watching and listening closely to the Cosmos series on television, no mention was ever heard about the creator of the cosmos. The chapter devoted to the fallacy of astronomy and science further goes on to say that, though science has given humanity a great many good things to better humanities lifestyle, they don't know beans about the real world or the spirit world. It's commented that scientist really have no proof as to the creation process or the expansion of the universe and it's compression (They don't mention the big bang theory by name but the author does point out that scientific theories are just that: Theories. The lack of the use of scientific terms for many of the aspects being knocked indicates a lack of preparedness or study for the book prior to its release into the ignorant Christian world. You want to knock something? Don't get all the facts first). "The spirit world exists", it is said, "but you must remember that there are evil spirits as well as the good" (paraphrase - mb). Scientist have tried to measure, photograph, and understand the holy ghost and they have failed. Why? It's because they are seeking knowledge to which non-believers are not privy to, using methods that is not prayer. They must first seek Jesus and through him, God. There's a problem with this as scientists who adhere to the scientific method require proof about aspects of their theories before they are accepted. When an aspect of the theory is false or has been exhaustively examined and not resolved, a new aspect is examined, either replacing the old one, or putting the old one on the back burner, so to speak, until new evidence comes to light. No pronouncement is made as to a theories validity until it's provable and reproducible under controllable conditions. The problem with seeking the Christian spirit world is that the scientific method can't fit into the methodology of faith. It can successfully encounter that ever present pretender to faith: "Hope", and apply the scientific method to determine the validity of the persons hopes, but it can not do the same with the persons faith. It is true that the scientific community will sometimes jump the gun on certain discoveries, (such as the cold fusion experiments of summer 1989; which haven't been fully proven or not proven to be a fusion process), the hopes of the scientists around the world could stand a let down. In like manor, the faith of the Christian is not swayed by evidence or, more importantly and usually, the lack of any evidence. The author of this book mentions going to Madaigascar (please, don't comment on the spelling; the spelling in this book was just as bad) and, as he was signing to an old woman selling wares from a dirty street crammed with the filthy, unchristian masses (who pray to ancestors and as such are in league unknowingly with "The Evil Master") he heard an unearthly sound coming from somewhere near by. The author talks about his eyes meeting the eyes of the old woman and of a silent kind of communication taking place. He then talks about seeing a girl run down the dirty, crowded street, and of what he took to be family members running after the girl. The girl was making strange sounds and was frothing at the mouth. People were running out of her path and the author pressed himself (or herself, perhaps) against the selling booths to get as far away from the girl as possible. (It's interesting that you always hear about these things occurring in places you can' t reach to investigate yourself, keeping the finding of the proof of what the author claims an unattainable goal). The author says that he turned back to the old woman and again their eyes met in some kind of silent communication (conspiracy pre- existing supposition becoming forefront) of which somehow failed. Sensing that the eyes were not telling what she wanted to convey, the old woman simply touched her finger to her head in a gesture that is common to many of us: that girl was simply mentally unbalanced. The author says he looked back down the street and wondered if it couldn't have been something more "sinister", as he puts it, remembering that these people worshiped their ancestors. Selective conclusions based on pre-existing suppositions are rampant in the Christian community: there was no mention of the filth and disease and abject poverty those people live in. The author wasn't spending his followers donation-to-God money on helping these people, he was their to find material to reinforce a new book and as such, either applied his pre-existing suppositions to an incident that actually happened, or failing to find something significant, "made up" a story that would be believed. TIME TO climb out: I had enough of this book after reading about seventy five percent of it though I can imagine a Christian eagerly reading it all in one sitting and then reeling in the enforcement of his beliefs. Is it any wonder why enthusiasm for the space program dwindles and scientific progress is not disseminated among the masses? I, personally, have talked to christians about the space program and have been told it's not Mans' destiny to leave the face of the Earth where God put us and meant us to stay. The first Christian family I hard this from would watch nothing but television preachers and, truthfully, home shopping television. (It was commented that walking among a world of sinners to purchase goods isn't necessary when you can pick up a phone and get everything you need delivered right to your doorstep). The scientific community should consider itself at war with the Christian people of the world; the Christians definitely think they are. With attempts to supplant evolution with pseudo-scientific creationism, intelligent people are at odds with Christianity and resolution of the problems Christianity brings us won't be realized until Christianity is stopped completely.