Sunday Sermonette: Gaia's turn

I don't want to spend every Sunday ragging on god/God/g-d. Today I'll let Barbara Ehrenreich take a shot at Gaia (who apparently has some adherents around here, judging from comments). To go with the latest Act of God Love Tap, Hurricane Katrina:

Some of us still get all weepy when we think about the Gaia Hypothesis, the idea that earth is a big furry goddess-creature who resembles everybody's mom in that she knows what's best for us. But if you look at the historical record -- Krakatoa, Mt. Vesuvius, Hurricane Charley, poison ivy, and so forth down the ages -- you have to ask yourself: Whose side is she on, anyway?

-- Barbara Ehrenreich, The Worst Years of Our Lives, "The Great Syringe Tide" (1991; first published in Mother Jones, 1988), quoted from The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (via positive atheism)