2006-11-23 Suspension of Disbelief

2006-11-23 \atheism\Art Institute of Portland\Portland Mercury/articles http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=84436&category=22101 Suspension of Disbelief &ldquo;In the classroom that day, Averill says one young woman was talking about her belief in energy layers and astral beings. .. "I jokingly asked her if she believed in leprechauns. It turns out, she does. They live on another energy layer," Averill wrote in notes to himself later that day. "In the interest of bringing my own view to the discussion, I began to ask her how she knew these things. Again I know all too well that people can be sensitive about their spiritual beliefs, so I was pretty much walking on glass as I did so." .. Averill says he wasn't trying to disprove the other student's religious beliefs, but "to convince her not to insist that they were scientifically proven." ... It was the last time he'd be in an Art Institute classâ€”within two weeks, he was expelled, less than a year before he'd hoped to graduate.&rdquo;   