My instinct, having studied world religions over twenty years ago as part of my degree, is to want to poke them with a stick. I find Pat Condell on youtube does this better than I ever could, though, so the poking vacancy is clearly filled.

Whilst I feel that such pragmatic mockery of all religions has its place, I don't think laughing at weird perceptions ever modified them for anyone. If you get Pat Condell then, like me, you'll smile at what he has to say. If, you don't and you're one of the loony-tunes who send him so much hate mail, use a dictionary, please.

What I find in this clip by Carl Sagan is a peaceful tone. He speaks of the stupidity and arrogance of man in a soothing voice and points out that his every blustering, self-important bit of self-aggrandising arrogance takes place on the Earth, one small blue dot in the vastness of space.

His even mature tones lull us into seeing some true perspective, gently wooing us into an image of man wafting helplessly and irrelevantly along, lost in endlessness, an ant on a leaf on the ocean, a huge ego perched upon a tiny blue dot amid infinity and eternity.

FlameDruid April 2009