Method Instead of Madness

I'm not a big fan of organized religion. I don't claim that the scientific method is the only possible method of reasoning. Sometimes, based on other values, one must make seemingly irrational choices; consider, for example, the hearsay rule in evidence, which has no scientific basis at all — it is a value-based rule coming from notions of fairness. However, even when scientific reasoning and science are insufficient to reach the "right" result — whatever that may be — entirely ignoring scientific reasoning, science, and well-tested data, even in such wishy-washy realms as the history of art.

And that is one reason that, so long as the fundamentalists maintain control over the Heffalumps' party platform and principles, I will not cast a ballot in that party's favor. I am also unfond of the oversolicitous consideration for organized religion that is endemic to American partisan politics, and in particular to the Jackasses... but that is at least in part because I have some grasp of history and science.