Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World

THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD
violence, might this justify repression of one ethnic group by
another, or even precautionary incarceration? If mental illness is
just brain chemistry, doesn't this unravel our efforts to keep a
grasp on reality or to be responsible for our actions? If we are not
the special handiwork of the Creator of the Universe, if our basic
moral laws are merely invented by fallible lawgivers, isn't our
struggle to maintain an orderly society undermined?
I suggest that in every one of these cases, religious or secular,
we are much better off if we know the best available approximation
to the truth, and if we keep before us a keen apprehension of
the errors our interest group or belief system has committed in the
past. In every case the imagined dire consequences of the truth
being generally known are exaggerated. And again, we are not
wise enough to know which lies, or even which shadings of the
facts, can competently serve some higher social purpose, especially
in the long run.
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