WE APPRECIATE THE GESTURE, BUT WE’RE STILL GOING TO BURN YOU AT THE STAKE

Humans 'hardwired for religion' (James Randerson, The Guardian, September 4th, 2006)

The battle by scientists against "irrational" beliefs such as creationism is ultimately futile, a leading experimental psychologist said today.

The work of Bruce Hood, a professor at Bristol University, suggests that magical and supernatural beliefs are hardwired into our brains from birth, and that religions are therefore tapping into a powerful psychological force.

"I think it is pointless to think that we can get people to abandon their belief systems because they are operating at such a fundamental level," said Prof Hood. "No amount of rational evidence is going to be taken on board to get people to abandon those ideas."

He told the annual British Association Festival of Science in Norwich that the standard bearers for evolution, such as the biologist Richard Dawkins and the philosopher Daniel Dennet, had adopted a counterproductive and "simplistic" position.

So science uses rational inquiry to prove we are hardwired for irrationalism? The mind boggles.