"In Italy, the Inquisition was condemning people to death until the end of the eighteenth century, and inquisitional torture was not abolished in the Catholic Church until 1816. The last bastion of support for the reality of witchcraft and the necessity of punishment has been the Christian churches."
--Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World (1996)
Great minds think alike. At least Carl Sagan had the presence of mind to be able to narrow down the scope of this particular (and quite horrifying, I would add) problem. I would certainly agree that it is within the realm of Christianity that we can find "the last bastion of support for the reality of witchcraft." But, could we then say with 100% certainty that each and every Christian on Earth today believes this reality? My bet is on "no." I will hold out for the probability that there are more progressive believers, and it is here that we may find excellent allies.
Of course, my expectation is that many of my fellow nonbelievers would rather pour derision on quotes like this, just as they did on Stephen Jay Gould for advancing his NOMA (non-overlapping magisteria) ideas.
Once again, so much for claims of "rationality" among the nonreligious.
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