I have a theory (cue Monty Python) - a few decades ago, or at least when I was a kid, science and technology were much simpler. Mechanical. People could build radios and repair their cars...and physics in school concerned itself with inclined planes and gas pressure per sq. in. and, when dabbling at the atomic level, talked about visualizable planetary schemes...little balls revolving around nuclei. the world was understandable, graspable. Religion seemed to be fading out... But now, as my late husband, a car person, complained, he no longer knew what went on inside his car: The mechanical and electronic technology he enjoyed had become the mysterious and often frustrating computerized world. And physics talks about string theory and wavicles and 11 dimensions... And our Western World seemed pretty coherent back then - we were getting the last wrinkles out - and now it's globalization and back to square one (speaking of Cain & Abel). Simplicity and certainty (and ultimate security), which had dangled before us tantalizingly for a moment in history, has been snatched away, but we still seek it, one way or the other, so now a lot of people are inventing it.
(P.S. - Do any of those people ever actually READ the Bible? Now THAT's scary stuff...) (There's an interesting series in Slate by someone who is reading the Bible all the way through and commenting as he goes...) _________________________________________________________________ See Fireworks On Live Image Search http://search.live.com/images/results.aspx?q=Fireworks&mkt=en-ca&FORM=SERNEP
