I observed a little while ago that the blog posts of mine which usually garner the most comments from readers, and which usually attract new subscribers, are the ones in which I'm complaining about some new occasion of irrationality in the world, or in my own community.

I support education; I love knowledge; I believe that there is no one in the world who would not be benefitted by knowledge. Still, I am very well aware of how formal education can be used as a weapon of oppression, instead of as a vehicle of empowerment. I learned about the Canadian Indian Residential Schools first-hand, from sitting at the feet of survivors as they told their stories.

But I strongly suspect that people do not always realize just how dangerous it is to hand over control of their lives to irrational forces. I think people may not realize what lies at the end of the slippery slope that starts with the discrediting of formal education, the denial of the need for rational thinking, and the claim that there ought to be a "balance" between reason and intuition or inspiration. If it is claimed that "book knowledge" (I've never liked that phrase!) is not as valuable as other nonrational forms of knowledge, or (even worse) that it is an impediment to knowledge, it may not be a long step to the claim that schools should be closed, books should be burned, and religious fanatics (instead of elected and accountable politicians) should rule the country.

Before you reply to me to say that this is a far-fetched fear, consider the way that just about every "news" anchor on Fox TV speaks of the ideas of the "educated classes" with scorn and hate. Consider also the organized and well-funded effort to undermine confidence in the science of evolutionary biology - an effort whose real purpose is not scientific discovery, but the establishment of conservative Christian moral and political values. Nor is evolutionary biology the only science attacked for that reason: the science behind climate change, and pandemic disease immunization, is also targeted here. The challenges to these scientific enquiries are not based on reason: they are based on religous belief: and indeed a form of religious belief which specifically rejects rational criticism as a threat.

Consider also the way that certain spokespersons for Christianity can claim, without fear of being accused of insanity by their followers, that outstanding disasters are God’s punishment for wickedness. Here are some examples:

- Shortly after September 11, 2001, for example, the American fundamentalist Christian preacher Jerry Falwell told a television audience, “I really believe that the Pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularise America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.’”. Pat Robertson, sitting beside him, said “I totally concur.” Read the transcript here.
- A Catholic parish priest in Austria, Gerhard Wagner, told his followers that Hurricane Katrina was sent by God to destroy the city of New Orleans, because of that city’s permissive attitude towards sexuality and especially homosexuality. A short time later, in a move widely seen as an endorsement of Wagner’s views, Pope Benedict XVI promoted him to auxiliary bishop.
- On 13th January 2010, Pat Robertson told a television audience that the earthquake that struck Haiti on the previous day, killing an estimated 100,000 people, was God’s punishment for the practice of non-Christian religions like Voudon and Santaria. In his words: “They were under the heel of the French, uh you know Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said we will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French. True Story, and so the Devil said OK it’s a deal. And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since they’ve been cursed by one thing after the other…”
- Of course, a pagan point of view might not necessarily be any better. For instance, Queen Djehami of Benin stated that the earthquake in Haiti occurred because the people of Haiti failed to carry out the traditional rituals and sacrifices to their ancestors.

I could add to this a few examples of religiously motivated violence, such as acid attacks on women suspected of adultery, the murder of medical doctors who procure abortions, and the like. But I trust by now the point is clear.

I rant on my blog about the importance of education, reason, critical thinking, in order to help prevent people from descending into the same kind of destructive irrationality.

I therefore offer you the following "pentacle of reason" (because there are five points to it), which I hope will help all of you think better and more carefully about the ideas that matter most to you.

1. Does the belief correspond with your actual experiences of the embodied world? Is it a belief which you can put to the test of empirical evidence? In other words, can you see for yourself whether it is true?

2. Does the belief cohere well with other beliefs that you have already accepted, and which you already know to be sound and strong?

3. If you acted as if the belief is true, what kind of a person would you become? Would you become more honourable, more calm and peaceful, more capable of action in the service of noble causes, more compassionate and respectful, more truly spiritual?

4. If you acted as if the belief was true, what other material consequences would follow, and would those consequences be acceptable to you?

5. Is the belief likely to be admired by a person who you respect, and who you regard as knowledgeable and wise? (I include a social dimension to this elementary method of reasoning, although if it was a method of "pure" reason, perhaps it would not belong here. But in my judgment, good dialogue with others is an important part of the exercise of reason.)

I do not claim that this is a fail-safe system of reasoning. But neither is the heart entirely fail-safe: and when the heart's direction is without the guidance of reason, it can cause a lot of needless suffering. Consider how people claim to be following their heart when in fact they are obsessively stalking someone, or nursing grudges, or planning a crime of passion.

"Follow your heart" is the message of almost every song and every movie in pop culture today. But I suggest that only after a belief has passed these five tests should you consider what your heart tells you. And I suggest this in the earnest hope that our community will be better off. It will be less likely to be taken in by fundamentalist ignorance. And it will be, I hope, a socially just, artistically flourishing, wise, and delightful world to live in.

Indeed, as some of our pagan predecessors understood, reason is a spiritual thing. But I shall have to save my comments about that for later.