The Large Hadron Collider is finally back up and running.  It is the remarkable result of billions of dollars and years of collaborative efforts between scientists, governments and private sponsors.

What an exciting time to be alive. Science is probing  further into the very nature of existence than I ever thought possible. For me,  there is no greater purpose for our intellect than that of discovery.

Unfortunately, the advancement of science always seems to elicit an angry and hysterical cry from religious zealots.  It is a reactionary response that has become as predictable as it is tiresome.

Those who would squelch science in the name of religion or  philosophy are like the hobgoblins of the human spirit. Science has never been the  enemy of spirituality, but sadly we cannot say the same for the reverse. Religion  seeks to place all of the answers before us with a banal finality. They would  have our natural inquisitiveness and wonder wither and die like atrophied sinew  from lack of use.

If religious people believe we are made in the image of a  god, why would they seek to lobotomize that god?

Man long ago outgrew the idea that our lives and world can be defined by simple acts of magic.  If bold and brilliant men such as Galileo and Darwin had not rejected such nonsensical dogma, we would still be burning witches and living to the ripe old age of 32.