Paltry vs.real miracles

           Two items in your " Stuff " section today ( Feb.5 ) - " Beware

    psychic promises " and " Miracle for sale " - should remind the

    thinking minority - that superstitious nonsense is alive and well

    as we end the millennium .

             Too bad for the drug dealer who faces at least 10 years in

    jail for heeding a psychic's advice ( " You'll never  be convicted " )

             Now this from the Holy Land : soon tourist at the Sea of

    Galilee can stand on a submerged bridge at the site of the famous

    Gospel " miracle " and appear to be walking on water themselves .

            From this hidden bridge you can also be on the lookout for

    that sinister  male Jew  who , Jerry Falwell tells us , must be

    the anti- Christ.

             Kids should be taught in grade school that there is

    no evidence that laws of nature have ever been suspended for an

    instant.

            And what a paltry miracle is this walking on water. It

    is far more " miraculous " that the human mind could grasp the

    PRINCIPLE of buoyancy : a submerged object is buoyed up by the

    weight of the water it displaces. Christ could no more walk on

    water than the Titanic could not sink.

         The Christ of Gospels seems to be above playing cheap tricks

    on ignorant. The one genuine miracle of his life was his gift

    of faith and leaving the world a slightly kinder place : We no

    longer  publicly crucify our criminals. But then the electric

    chair at least hints at the torments of hell fire - to the

    delight of the vindictive amongst us .