Devoutly! Americans have an abiding (and well-founded) sense of insecurity.
As de Tocqueville noted: "The Americans, in their intercourse with strangers, appear impatient of the smallest censure and insatiable of praise. . . . They unceasingly harass you to extort praise, and if you resist their entreaties they fall to praising themselves. It would seem as if, doubting their own merit, they wished to have it constantly exhibited before their eyes."
I think it's productive to prey on that insecurity. If Plan A -- using ridicule to encourage disbelief -- doesn't work, there's always Plan B -- using ridicule to encourage people of faith to stay the hell away.
So even if ridicule doesn't solve the problem of public piety it can offer symptomatic relief.
Carl
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