It seems to me that we're not keeping very close track of the many promised catastrophes that are supposed to be taking place. I feel I should remind you. One of them, you may recall, was the imminent entry into our atmosphere of the Cassini space-probe, loaded with radioactive material which was supposed to poison our environment permanently and fatally. Cassini swooped in, sling-shotted back out into space - exactly as planned - and went on its merry way. No disaster, no poisoning, not the least bit exciting. It was science at work, despite Nostradamus and all the scare mongers. But, you know, I didn't see any headlines declaring, "Cassini Succeeds!" I wonder why.....?

But this next one was close! Well, not TOO close, I guess.....

In a privately-published book, "5/5/2000: ICE: The Ultimate Disaster" by Richard Noone, a best-seller in the Newage circles which is basically a mixture of spurious archaeological claims, Pyramidology, Stonehenge, and the Masononic stuff, the author called for certain ominous planetary alignments to bring about a "pole shift" that will plunge the world into a new Ice Age. And he provided an exact date: May 5, 2000. Ooops! That was last Friday!

Well, nothing lost. Noone was appropriately and very wisely vague in his description of the coming disaster. He said "possibly" and "maybe," and "perhaps" a great number of times, but never exactly said what would occur. He advertised survival gear for sale, and as one of my correspondents wondered, if he shipped merchandise on the evening of May 4th, did they use Fed Ex?

Sky & Telescope Magazine (see their web page at http://www.skypub.com) ran a press release on the pending catastrophe. This is an excerpt:

MAY'S PLANET PILEUPS: OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND
The good news is that on May 5th the Moon and the five bright planets -- Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn -- will come together to form an impressively tight grouping in the sky. The bad news is that we won't able to see it, because the Sun is in the midst of the parade of planets and will hide most of them in its dazzling glare. An even tighter configuration -- this time without the Moon -- will occur (again out of view) on the 17th.
The upcoming planetary alignment has prompted some people to speculate that on May 5th tidal waves will wash away coastal cities, California will fall into the Pacific, earthquakes with unheard-of intensity will shake our planet's crust, and/or Earth's poles will wobble wildly when great slabs of ice become heaped upon them.
"Let's get real," says Alan MacRobert, an associate editor and sky-gazing specialist at SKY & TELESCOPE magazine. "Nothing like that is going happen."

Well, Alan was right, not much to my surprise. The weather was beautiful here in Florida, and aside from the ice cubes in my drink, no other indications of the end of the world were noted.

Sky & Telescope went on to state that the combined gravitational pull of the Sun, Moon, and planets of course "affects"the Earth, but that it has no discernible effect on us. In fact the May 5th configuration was nothing like the tides raised by last December 22nd's especially close full Moon. And, the planets' combined tidal pull on the Sun this month, while above average, is matched or exceeded a few times per century, most recently on January 6, 1990. Astronomer Jean Meeus, looking into all this years ago, found that the very tightest five-planet grouping ever (5.7 degrees wide) came and went uneventfully on June 25, 710.

So rest assured that none of these dreaded alignments will in any way affect our lives here on planet Earth. We have more to worry about from falling meteors. Much more. And that's almost zero.

Fear and Trepidation

I have received an e-mail posting that I will share here with you, along with my response, so that you may have a clearer picture of the kind of traffic I get every day. In general, we do not handle religious matters at JREF - except where direct evidence is offered for examination. We would certainly look into weeping statues, claims of faith-healing, and such things as the Shroud of Turin. Religion seldom offers any sort of evidence to examine, and is a matter of philosophy rather than science.

I am appalled by the contents of this letter, and perhaps you'll see that my response reflects this dismay.......

Dear Mr. Randi, I think you misunderstand where the believer is coming from. If I unwittinglyaccept something as fact on the basis of faulty evidence, that is bad science. But if I willingly accept something as fact, despite understanding that all available evidence is to the contrary, that is faith. I understand that the creation account of Genesis cannot be reconciled with science. All scientific evidence is to the contrary. Nevertheless, I choose to believe it anyway. Why? Because I believe that willful disbelief is a grounds for damnation. I believe, even though I know I will never understand. From time to time, all believers have their doubts, just as all believers also face temptation. Yes, I occasionally have my doubts about creation. But I simply refuse to entertain or pursue those doubts. I am not responsible for my doubt; doubt is merely a form of temptation. I am held responsible, however, if I take that doubt to the next level, through reading or research. The Holy Spirit is responsible for what is in my heart; I am merely responsible for abstaining from the conduct of disbelief. This path of faith, far from making me stupid, actually enhances my character, precisely because it is such a hard path. It is my sincerest hope that a way can be found to teach the useful parts of science, such as biology and medicine, without teaching anything about evolution. Perhaps my children will want to become doctors and minister to the physical needs of their fellow-man, without compromising their life-giving faith or their own salvation. Every day, as a computer programmer, I work with Hindus from India. Despite their education and intelligence, they do not consider themselves too good to give their gods absolute devotion. (And their gods don't even exist!) Why, then, do we consider ourselves too good to give our God absolute devotion? Are we a less faithful race or nation? Let us direct our eyes to the practical applications of technology, and avert our eyes from the scandalous stuff that undermines the fabric of social faith and human dignity. Thank you, (name withheld).

Note that the writer has no doubt whatsoever theabout the non-existence of Hindu gods, and obviously accepts the existence of his personal god. My response follows:

Sir: You wrote, " . . . if I willingly accept something as fact, despite understanding that all available evidence is to the contrary, that is faith." I would define this either as obstinacy or "blind faith." Much more accurately, considering the rest of your posting, I would define it as a fear response. Again, quoting you, "I understand that the creation account of Genesis cannot be reconciled with science. All scientific evidence is to the contrary. Nevertheless, I choose to believe it anyway. Why? Because I believe that willful disbelief is a grounds for damnation. I believe, even though I know I will never understand." You have chosen to conduct your life from a condition of abject fear of damnation, which I find totally unacceptable for myself. Any god who demands that I stop thinking -- after having equipped me with the means to do so -- is a vindictive, cruel, vengeful, deity. I'll have no part of that. I know you're convinced that you're right -- and you MUST think that way, because you're afraid. Well, I'm not afraid, particularly of a savage mythology that I believe was developed by a religious hierarchy that has tried for generations to keep us under their huge collective thumb -- obviously with some success, judging from your fearful declaration. I simply cannot understand how a person with the ability to reason, can be so afraid to do so. But those who want to control you have been successful, and you'll go to your grave trembling in fear. I leave you to that.

James Randi

PLEASE NOTE - for you folks on the Internet who listen in on Saturdays nights to my radio show via www.SuperTalk940.com at 7 p.m. EDT (2400 GMT), I invite you to send in questions, suggestions, and topics via e-mail, and we will try to read out the most interesting ones. Send to randi@randi.org with a heading, "RADIO SHOW." Get them in as early as you can, so we can prepare for them. (I'm pre-empted May 6th and 20th, July 1st, and September 9th.)