Beat Randi to it...

[Hutch]

In his Commentary today, Randi notes:

Ah, but Mr. Coutinho presents us with another gem along with this one. He has given me a quotation from science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein that I’d not known of previously, but will use often:

"The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history."

Italics mine.

Ahem. As anyone who has browsed these boards know, I have had the identical quote in my signature for the past few months.

It comes from the Heinlein book "Time Enough for Love" and is part of 'The Notebooks of Larzarus Long", which was also published as a short, stand-alone book in times past.

You can find more from old Lazarus here: http://www.dustin.icenter.pl/ruminations/notebooks_of_lazarus_long.htm including another quote or two that Mr. Randi may want to add to his Heinlein collection:

There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know. So why fret about it?

God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent -- it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash and in small bills.

What are the facts? Again and again and again -- what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what "the stars foretell," avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable "verdict of history" -- what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!