Why dowsing makes perfect sense -kindo'

We need to pay attention to this kind of thing because it relates strongly for some people to issues of belief and spirituality. The New Scientist opinion piece is not unympathetic and it's value is in drawing attention to one factor involved for some in issues of belief etc. It's here: Why dowsing makes perfect sense - opinion - 29 July 2009 - New Scientist. A concluding sentence from the article gives us the skinny: "We take a perverse pleasure in things that confound our senses, which is why conjuring tricks are delightful and science can seem a killjoy. The physicist Richard Feynman once said that science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. What he didn't say was just how much fun fooling yourself can be."
So for many people involved in New Spiritual Milieu stuff, this is a factor. And, actually, for some involved in some signs and wonders Christian stuff, this is a factor too. I would also suggest that it it part of the popularity of fantasy novels and the like. We have a serious cultural 'thing' going on in reaction to the erosion of mystery and the prosaic-ness of science as popularly perceived. Perhaps part of the difficulty in getting kids to study science is cultural disenchantment? And in such an atmosphere perhaps a greater proportion of those who do are then reacting against the romantic wistful 'magicalism' abroad in some popular culture? That could explain the Dawkins' types to some extent.

How to respond as Christians? Well, I think we have a difficulty; largely the heavy-handed debunking Dawkins-style is not a straightforward choice: there are personal issues related to helping people to mature in belief, for example within the Christian faith and a bull-in-a-china-shop approach to challenging people's beliefs is often counter-productive; gently, gently does better; direct challenge usually produces retrenchment. The same goes for those involved in new spiritual milieu circles: I want to affirm their curiosity and openness to there being more things in heaven and earth than dreamt of in our philosophies, but I also want to question the credulity -especially as it is a selective credulity which not only is incredulous of certain aspects of science but also of Christian claims too. It is a delicate operation to encourage people to emotionally detach from cherished beliefs, especially when they have the frisson of 'confounding our senses' and tapping into that delighted-child emotion when seeing a conjuring trick done well. "If anyoen causes one of these little ones to stumble ... " ?