Crazy talk about Xenu and body thetans didn't spur Hollywood writer Paul Haggis to quit the Church of Scientology. The misperception that a Scientology affiliate supported California's Proposition 8, which legally restored marriage to one man and one woman, did. "I told you I could not, in good conscience, be a member of an organization where gay-bashing was tolerated," the writer of "Crash" and co-writer of "Million-Dollar Baby" told a Super Adventure Club/Scientology leader in his resignation. Joining the Church of Scientology was no doubt a boon to Haggis's career. Leaving it will be too.

Dan,

Just re-read Intellectual Morons and loved it... again. It would be fitting to include cults like Scientology as yet another ideology that makes smart people -- like Haggis -- fall for stupid ideas.

I have noted opportunism as another reason people get hijacked by bad ideas. Fox News is a fountain of wealth that showers many intelligent minds with enough incentive to tow their company line.

Looking forward to your next book. Have you written here what the subject might be? I found the two other books more polarizing only because I am not a fan of the left/right dichotomy. I think it is antithetical to pragmatism.

A good example is the Ayn Rand phenomenon. This book is once again adopted by a new generation of right wingers who find a way to ignore her atheism.

Anyway, love the blog. And I thought I would chime in with my respect and support instead of the occasional iconoclastic snark.

Keep up the good work.

Thanks, James. I am working on a couple of book projects. I am a bit frustrated because there are some issues holding up progress. I think you will like the next one, judging by your comments on the "left-right dichotomy."

Interesting that you bring up Ayn Rand. I have just reviewed the two new biographies of her. Stay tuned to the site. They will appear next week.