EvolutionNews notes that a new NASA director chose to be sworn in on a copy of Carl Sagan’s book instead of the Bible or Torah or Koran.
In the good old days when I was young, people viewed oaths as particularly dangerous. If you violated an oath, you didn’t just come under the wrath of the State, you came under the wrath of God. Therefore taking an oath of office involved a Bible to give it extra binding power. It reassured the public that even if you violated your oath, God would even the score.
In the old days most people didn’t actually fear God. They feared God’s bureaucrats, the priests and bishops and Karens. The agents could excommunicate you, which removed you from society and employment.
Modern scientists don’t fear the ghost of Sagan, they fear Sagan’s bureaucrats. Deans and granting agencies and ethics boards and accreditation boards and peer reviewers can excommunicate you if you disagree with Sagan’s creed. You’ll be out of scientific society and out of employment.
Polistra's Mill 