Yes, there really are people who are that gullible and that stupid. You have been privileged, Richard, to have spent almost your entire working life surrounded by intelligent people!

This calls for some Bertrand Russell quotes, I think. (From: http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/russell.htm )

"It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this." -- from "An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish" in the collection, Unpopular Essays

"Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do."

"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible." Christian Ethics -- from Marriage and Morals (1950), quoted from James A Haught, ed, 2000 Years of Disbelief

"If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it's still a foolish thing."