Miscellany, March 20

Posted on March 20, 2009 by Walter Olson
  • Pareidolia is “that phenomenon wherein people see things that aren’t there because human brains are wired for pattern recognition”. Children see animals in the clouds or letters in a pile of sticks; adults are likely to see images fraught with special meaning, especially (though not only) religious images such as the Virgin Mary, the cross or the face of Jesus. Via Orac comes an irresistible six-minute video of the highlights of Christian pareidolia stories for 2008.

    Orac hazards the view — though I’m not sure what the evidence is in either direction — that in societies with a different religious foundation or none at all, people would see something else in grilled cheese sandwiches, tree bark, cinnamon bun residues, dirty windows, and other objects presenting random visual patterns. (Compare the 2005 story in which Burger King redesigned the swirl on an ice cream lid after a Muslim man objected that it was too reminiscent of the Arabic inscription for Allah).
  • From the same blog, but on an entirely different subject, a study of medicine and religion finds that (to quote the blog, not the study) “Faith in a higher power can often lead to more aggressive treatment than is medically warranted”. In cases of incurable cancer, strong religious conviction on the part of patients is apparently more likely to correlate with the use of ventilators, death while in intensive care, and other heroic/invasive measures, as opposed to hospice. Orac (who is a medical doctor specializing in cancer) has an extended and interesting discussion.
  • Finally, a Missouri library has agreed to settle “Deborah Smith’s claim that she lost her job as a librarian assistant in Poplar Bluff, Mo., because she refused to attend a ‘Harry Potter Night’ promoting the publication of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ in July 2007.” Smith believed the Potter books dabble in the occult and was not mollified at the library director’s offer to let her participate behind the scenes where her fellow church members would not have to realize she was involved.

About Walter Olson

Fellow at a think tank in the Northeast specializing in law. Websites include overlawyered.com. Former columnist for Reason and Times Online (U.K.), contributor to National Review, etc.
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7 Responses to Miscellany, March 20

  1. Bradlaugh says:
    March 21, 2009 at 5:52 am

    Walter:  Probably the most memorable instance of pareidolia in American culture occurred in Season 3 of the anti-sitcom “Married With Children” when Peggy, doing the family laundry, sees an image of Elvis Presley in a sweat-stain on one of Al’s T-shirts.

  2. Michael M. says:
    March 21, 2009 at 8:48 am

    What’s with all the news coverage of these Christian pareidolia tales? I’m not surprised that people think they see these things, I’m just surprised that anyone considers this news. Is it any wonder so many have only the vaguest grasp of, for example, how their state and local tax dollars are spent, when local news coverage is given over to stuff like this?

  3. Richard says:
    March 21, 2009 at 9:01 am

    What is this blog if not an extended example of secular pareidolia?

    What is depressing about this blog is that its contributors often seem to know as much about theology and philosophy as the idiots they rightly make fun of.

    Deep down, both sides need each other?

  4. Roger Hallman says:
    March 21, 2009 at 9:39 am

    I dunno…Spoon Jesus looks an awful lot like Che Guavara to me.

  5. gene berman says:
    March 22, 2009 at 9:28 am

    It would only be stretching slightly to say that the tendency to confuse correlation with causation is paredoliac.

  6. Jeeves says:
    March 25, 2009 at 8:46 am

    @Richard
    What is this blog if not an extended example of secular pareidolia?

    What is this Richard if not an example of someone who lost his way navigating the web?

  7. Pingback: Secular Right » Miscellany, April 22

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