"The sky is falling. The sky is falling."

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One of my earliest invitations into critical thinking was given to me in the important lesson of an Esopus Fable, "Chicken Little" - don't jump to conclusions and don't believe everything you hear.

As I recall the fable, Chicken Little ran off in a panic, certain that the sky was falling when in fact it was merely an acorn that struck his head; the poor little guy had to warn the King to do something.  He raised quite a following of believers as he headed off on his self-appointed mission and soon a bunch of additional story characters, a goose, a turkey, and pig were all in a panic, all off to warn the King together.

In today's America there are a great number of Chicken Little characters and even more Chicken Little followers all scurrying about and each with his own version of "the sky is falling."  It concerns me and it ought to concern every thinking citizen that the vast amount of misinformation currently circulating society is a great danger to us all.  and while it certainly wouldn't be fair to say that it's all the fault of religion (and I won't) there is religious nonsense enough to divi-out a portion.

The fable of Chicken Little continues on to include a fox, Foxy Loxey, and here's where things get ugly.  The fox being a fox takes advantage of the dim wits and dolts Chicken Little has amassed.  And one by one he eats them.

Now I don't mean to say that religion puts people at risk of being eaten by foxes, but it isn't unfair to say that religions gather dim wits and dolts by the score and that foxy individuals take advantage of them ... and, more often than not, the foxiest individuals are of the church itself.

Read the original story of Chicken Little to your kids.  They deserve a chance to escape the fox-like world they've been born into.
. "The sky is falling. The sky is falling."