For more details:
http://www.rationalistinternational.net/article/2008/20080310/en_1.html
From "The Rationalist International":
The story of Sanal Edamaruku challenging India's top tantrik Surinder Sharma on live TV to demonstrate his magic powers on him raised enthusiasm and curiosity all around the world. Our website got nearly two million hits in two weeks. We received hundreds of appreciative letters and congratulations every day. One of the first reactions came from James Randi: "Sanal! My congratulations for this excellent demonstration of rationality over superstition", he wrote, "reason has won the day".
The story appeared on SWIFT (web page of the James Randi Educational Foundation) and on Richard Dawkins' website, to name the two most prominent. Meantime it has been overtaken by hundreds of sites and blogs and is touring the Internet in many languages.
Youtube videos available:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/v/qNoX0XKUZlk
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/v/T7MtG7qOj9E
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/v/kol01I-Ll2s
Sunday, March 30, 2008
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1 comment:
Faith is an instrument that encapsulates all the unknowns in a person's life and delegates it to an intangible benevolent force.
I guess it was evolved by our ancestors to deal with the bunch of unknowns in their lives.
Though science has been steadily relieving the (overworked) Benevolent Being of his immense bucket of tasks, I think society as a whole has a long time to go before they can handle life without needing the recourse of faith.
Sure, there are going to be a very very small minority who would make that leap during any era, but they are going to find it difficult ( impossible actually ) to convince the overwhelming majority.
And, its not really such a bad thing after all... In a place like India, most of us have our hands full with earning our daily bread. So, it doesnt hurt to believe that there is someone looking out for us.
Call it the "opiate of the masses", but sometimes the high of delusion is preferable to the low of reality. :)
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