If it hadn’t been for those meddling gods

Gods have been interfering in construction projects.

A canal in India may not go forward over protests of an unusual nature.

Hindu hardliners say the project will destroy what they say is a bridge built by [Hindu god] Ram and his army of monkeys.

Scientists and archaeologists say the Ram Setu (Lord Ram’s bridge) – or Adam’s Bridge as it is sometimes called – is a natural formation of sand and stones.

In their report submitted to the court, the government and the Archaeological Survey of India questioned the belief, saying it was solely based on the Hindu mythological epic Ramayana.

They said there was no scientific evidence to prove that the events described in Ramayana ever took place or that the characters depicted in the epic were real.

Hindu activists say the bridge was built by Lord Ram’s monkey army to travel to Sri Lanka and has religious significance.

In the last two days, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched a scathing attack on the government for questioning the “faith of the million”.

Sometimes people ask me if I ‘believe in X’, and like Carl Sagan, I wish they’d ask instead: ‘How good is the evidence for X?’ Here, the BJP is claiming that the beliefs of millions must not be questioned, but they don’t examine the evidence for the belief. Seems to me that respect for the belief should be consonant with the evidence for it.

Now I’d hate to see a natural bridge destroyed, even if some people think it was built by a mythical being and an army of monkeys. (Because that would actually be pretty cool.) In fact, I wouldn’t care to destroy an object of ‘religious significance’ to anyone because people seem to like things that make them feel spiritual, and that’s okay.

What I think is interesting about this story is that the government decided to tell people that a deity was imaginary. A very encouraging tendency, but it’s a shame that the government caved in when fundamentalists freaked out.

In a similar story, roads in Iceland are sometimes diverted or delayed because people think it will annoy elves. Seriously.

“There are all sorts of beings beneath our stones,” said Brynjolfur Snorrason, a folklorist often asked to advise contractors on how best to avoid the lairs of Iceland’s elves and other seldom-seen creatures whose presence nonetheless still seems to permeate this far northern island nation.

Highway engineers in recent years have been forced to reroute roads around supposed elf dwellings. Similarly, builders of the country’s first shopping mall took care to lay electrical cables and other underground installations well away from suspected abodes of gnomes and fairies. Couples planning a new house will sometimes hire “elf-spotters” to ensure the lot is free of spirit folk.

What do you do? Elf-spotter.

One resident reported seeing one.

Despite having seen the elf only once in 15 years – enough time to determine that she was “bigger than life and dressed like my grandmother, in a 1930’s national costume” – Ms. Hakonardottir, 67, has no doubt of her existence. “My daughter once asked me, ‘How do you know where elves live?’ ” she said. “I told her you just know. It’s just a feeling.”

And if you feel it, it must be true. Intuition over evidence. You just know.

Another resident reports:

Recently, she said, some elves borrowed her kitchen scissors, only to return them a week later to a place she had repeatedly searched. “My philosophy is, you don’t have to see everything you believe in,” she said, “because many of your greatest experiences happen with closed eyes.”

Please remember, these are real people. Who believe in elves. The evidence they accept is feelings, intuitions, and unusual occurrences. They also disdain the need for physical evidence.

But of course, no one you know would be so silly.