The boat that keeps going even though there is no way for it to float. Its construction is so faulty that it leaks from many holes. There were so many contractors, each doing a different part, that none of the parts can possibly match, yet the boat remains afloat. Each passenger works feverishly to bail the water, to patch the holes, yet more water enters, more holes appear, as fast as repairs are administered. Sometimes closing one hole, creates another.

Even though its sinking seems imminent, more passengers step in year after year. Those that have stepped in before, even though they see the problems, the faulty construction, and its irrational continuance, encourage more to make the leap. Its existence above the water is maintained only by the fact that the bailers are able, by their numbers, to bail as fast as the ship is sinking.

The good ship “Christianity”, a sinking ship, full of holes, held up by the sheer will of the ignorant. Nearby, the good ship Reason, sailing on, is stubbornly ignored by those who would instead prefer to bail a sinking ship. Make no mistake, should the numbers willing to stay and bail, decide instead to give Reason a try, the good ship Christianity would take a quick plunge and quickly rest at the bottom of history’s oceans.

However, the posts, manned by willing passengers, recruited by inheritance by their forebears, will continue to be filled. The ship, against all reason, floats on year after year, rendering a large portion of the population under its spell. Those that command the ship are able, through the spell that has been cast, to convince those that maintain the ship, to do their bidding. As a result of this spell, this control by the ship’s captains, and there are many, the rest of the world suffers from this irrational sustainment of a boat, that couldn’t otherwise float. None of the sustainers note the fact that it is not the boat but the captain they serve. A captain who knows no better than they, how to steer.

It can only be hoped that the good ship Reason will prevail, that eventually those that  maintain the leaky vessel will someday make the leap to Reason.