Thursday, March 5, 2009

The Elf Delusion.


Here's a odd little story. Apparently the people of Iceland have a longstanding, folklore based, belief in elves. Icelandic people actually believe elves are real. In fact, when Alcoa wanted to build a plant there it had to allow a government inspector in to certify that the site was elf free.

Now I suspect that most Americans consider belief in elves ridiculous, and they would be right. After all, there is no empirical evidence for the existence of elves. But America has it's own "folklore." Religion.

Without any emperical evidence millions of Americans believe in an all knowing, all powerful, god who watches over all they do. Plus he's ready to punish them for all eternity of they don't act just so. Believers get preferential government treatment in the form of tax breaks, and I suspect that if the right people thought angels inhabited a plant site we'd spend some tax money investigating.

Belief in elves is ridiculous, but so is belief in Jesus.

3 comments:

  1. Ah, only to you. Those of us who choose to believe do not see anthing ridiculous about either. We see beauty,hope and faith, and something that will bring added joy. Your choice to not believe does not make my choice to do so ridiculous.

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  2. It does in the absence of evidence.

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  3. @beesbess:

    So you don't think it's ridiculous to waste valuable resources making sure that nonexistent elves don't exist? Do you also think it's perfectly normal to walk around with garlic and wooden stakes to protect yourself from all the conspicuously absent vampires? And I bet that every time you see a rainbow you start trying to get that pot of gold without having to deal with those darn leprechauns. No wonder need to believe in an invisible man in the sky who tells you what to do.

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