Cosmos, Contact and Carl

Not quite a year ago, I posted an entry titled "I believe in potential." These ruminations were caused by watching the movie version of Contact.  The adds for the new version of Cosmos soon to come out, the one that features Neil deGrasse Tyson brought those thoughts to mind again.  I love the old Cosmos with Carl Sagan.

So, I finally got my hands on a copy of Contact and re-read it.  And, I have to say they did a much better job with keeping the spirit of the book in the movie than I had thought.  They did mash some characters together, and they did dumb a lot of things waaaay down.  But over all, not bad.  I give the movie a thumbs up.

So yes, I'm a bit surprised at how god friendly Contact the book is.  But what it is not friendly to, is organized religion.  Maybe back when I read it is when I began to realize that was what I didn't like either?  If you read through the rants I've made like this one in my blog, you'll realize, I'm pretty god friendly too.  But I do not have any patience for those that turn religion into a tool for power.  And that is what every organized religion I am familiar with does.

I guess I should acknowledge that Sagan was one of those writers who had a profound effect on a young person all those years ago.  So, here's to Carl, you are still missed.