On Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World

I'm reading Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World.  It's a gentle reminder of the importance of science to the improved quality of life of people, and a necessary one in the face of the perils of dangerous ignorance like faith-healing, anti-vaxx, etc.  Only 15 pages in and it has made a point to criticize pseudoscience and all ideas seeking to explain the unknowns of the world without evidence.

He takes care not to explicitly criticize any one religion, but to focus on what we know is real through testing and valid methods of research.  We are all prone to giving in to the alluring idea that we are somehow a special creature, that the stars rise and fall for us, that we are all born into some cosmic destiny.  But if we perpetually ascribed credit to the divine all events of which we didn't understand for all of human history, we would have never left the hunter-gatherer era and our life expectancy would remain in the 20's and 30's.

There's an undertone of gentle cynicism and wariness towards all thoughts not firmly grounded in hard evidence. I personally don't feel there is any harm in the general belief that there is existence beyond what we can perceive ; it was only relatively recently that we learned to detect waves such as radio and gamma outside of the visible spectrum of light.  Problems only arise when we begin accepting claims without evidence.

I don't want to end on an edgy note, so I'll say I'm just as guilty of having unsubstantiated beliefs as most.  If you find comfort in the metaphysical, this book is like a douse of cold water.  That could be a good or bad thing, depending on how heavily your reliance is on those beliefs.  Still, we are always learning more about the universe, so maybe one day actual science will find answers to existential questions for future generations.  Until then, I think its healthiest to try to let go of all contrived preconceptions, admire the pretty night sky, and accept things as they are until that day comes.  I believe any good Creator would find that a respectable approach.