almost true

Also in the news this Sunday:

The Times features no funnies, but this is fun: Monty Python turns 40 (!) this year, will reunite at the Ziegfeld Theater on October 15 (sans the late great Graham Chapman), and starting on the 18th the Independent Film Channel will devote a week to the Pythons, broadcasting an episode a day of a new documentary called "Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)"...

"Now for something completely different":

Parade reports that 25% of Americans call themselves "spiritual, not religious," and half of them say they never go to church. 60% think "all religions have validity," and 66% expect they'll connect with the dead on the Other Side.

Or on this one. What many understand by "spiritual" includes psychic swindlers like James van Praagh and John Edward, the latter featured this morning on CBS Sunday Morning. 20% say they've already been in touch with spirits. Coincidentally, that's how many watch Edward and van Praagh on TV.

The oddly one-sided emphasis of the CBS report was on reconciling belief in psychic phenomena with one's religious or spiritual prejudices, as opposed to squaring it with (say) logic, reason, and evidence.

What fun the Pythons could have with all this. Oh yeah, they did already (in "Life of Brian"). Well, here's Michael Shermer having some fun.