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That's entertainment

There is much that is creditable in the Consumer Protection Regulations that came into effect last month. Door-to-door salespeople will be less able to prey on the vulnerable; adverts aimed at children will be more tightly regulated.

It is tempting, too, to applaud the news that fortune tellers and astrologers must inform customers that their services are 'not experimentally proven' and 'for entertainment only'. Naturally, providers of these services are aggrieved, though protesting after the changes were made rather than before suggests that their prediction abilities are not as finely honed as they might like.

Some commentators have argued that the same regulations should apply to religions that promise eternal life. That claim is experimentally unproven, of course, but it is difficult to imagine what kind of experiment could be attempted. In any case, to imagine something as being without value unless it has empirical status would also prevent aesthetic descriptions of any kind. You might find something beautiful, but you would not be able to prove it so.

But this perhaps need not worry us too much. Should the consumer police come knocking at your church door, just ask them to sit through a service. Chances are they'll find it as 'entertaining' as you do.


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