By the good grace of modern medicine, philosopher Daniel C. Dennett reports to edge.org that he has emerged from the foxhole of an dissected aorta. If that weren't enough good news, he survived the ordeal both with his atheism firmly intact, and singing a few bars of that old Broadway showstopper "Don't Pray For Me, Argentina."
These messages from my family and from friends around the world have been literally heart-warming in my case, and I am grateful for the boost in morale (to truly manic heights, I fear!) that it has produced in me. But I am not joking when I say that I have had to forgive my friends who said that they were praying for me. I have resisted the temptation to respond "Thanks, I appreciate it, but did you also sacrifice a goat?" I feel about this the same way I would feel if one of them said "I just paid a voodoo doctor to cast a spell for your health." What a gullible waste of money that could have been spent on more important projects! Don't expect me to be grateful, or even indifferent. I do appreciate the affection and generosity of spirit that motivated you, but wish you had found a more reasonable way of expressing it.
Thanks to Ted Frank for the pointer.
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